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VIRGIL. 



By JOHN BENSON. ROSE. 




LOXDOX: 
JDOEEELL & SON, CHAKING CEOSS. 

1867. 



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" I have him in Italian," said the barber, " but I do not understand 
him." 

" Neither is it any great matter whether you understand him or not," 
answered the priest ; " and we would willingly have excused the good 
captain from bringing him into Spain and making him a Castilian, for 
he has deprived him of a great deal of his native value ; which is indeed 
the misfortune of all those who undertake the translation of poetry into 
other languages ; for with all then- care and skill they can never bring 
them on a level with the original production. In short, I sentence this 
to be thrown aside and deposited in some dry vault until we can 
deliberate more maturely what is to be done with it." — Cervantes, in 
Don Quixote. 



1 



LONDON: FEINTED BY W. CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET, 
AND CHASING CROSS. 



THE 'iENEIS, 



BOOK I. 

Arms, now I sing and of the Man, who fled 

From ruined Troy and, fate impelled, was sped 

To land Italian at Lavinum's shore. 

But, ah ! what woes predestined to endure 

By sea and land ; what perils to engage 5 

From wrath supreme and Juno's vengeful rage ; 

What wars, ere he might found his new abodes, 

And fix in Latium his banished gods : 

From whom and whence our Alban fathers come, 

The Latin race and the high walls of Rome. 10 

Muse, relate : say, what ill-fated hour, 
Goddess incensed, or what offended power 
Condemned a man renowned for piety, 
Subject to such calamities to be. 
Does Heaven find joy in human misery ? 15 

Opposed to Tiber's mouths, across the sea 

Was Carthage, rich and warlike colony 

Of ancient Tyre. By Juno cherished more 

Than her own Argos, than the Samian shore. 

There stood her arms and chariot — there did she 20 

Destine the seat of sovereignty to be, 

Had fate consented ; but to her annoy 

The rumour ran, these exiled men of Troy 

Should ruin Carthage, and upon the doom 

Of vanquished Libya, in times to come 

Govern the world. b 



2 THE ^NEIS. Book I. 

So spoke the Fates. Saturnia feared it, for 

Well she remembered the too partial war, 

And favoured Greece ; and rankled in her mind 

Her griefs and injuries — the prize assigned 30 

By Paris, and her form denied its meed — 

The hated race, and the rapt Ganymede : 

These were the secret causes which prevailed, 

Baffling the Trojans wheresoe'er they sailed, 

Tossed on the seas and barred the promised land, 35 

This remnant 'scaped Achilles' wrathful hand, 

Sustained long years of toil and miseries. 

Such were of Rome the earlier destinies. 

Scarcely the brazen prows were launched on sea, 
And off Siculia bounding merrily, 40 

When Juno, writhing with immortal pain, 
Self communed : 

" Are my efforts vain ? 
Does Troy prevail, and win the Italian realm ? 
Must I desist ? Why should fate overwhelm 
Me, only me ? Might angry Pallas throw 45 

The bolts of Jupiter against her foe, 
Ajax Oileus — she ocean's empire sweep, 
And fire the Grecian navy on the deep, 
Bear off the Greek, and witness him expire, 
Hurled on a rock, pierced with immortal fire ; 50 

And I who walk in majesty above, 
The Queen of Heaven, sister and wife of Jove, 
Against a vanquished, wandering people war, 
And war in vain ? Who will henceforth adore 



Book I. THE -3SNEIS. 3 

My deity, who deem my power divine, 55 

Or offer further incense on my shrine ? " 

With strickened heart the goddess urged her car 
Unto JEolia, realm of mist, afar. 
In cavern vast King iEolus close binds 
The struggling tempests and the jarring winds ; 60 

Against his rule vainly the captives rave, 
And, murmuring, struggle in their mountain cave. 
Enthroned and sceptered, iEolus compels 
Their rugged natures and their passion quells ; 
Which did he not, — the earth, the sea and sky, 65 

Tossed through the plains of air and whirled on high, 
W r ould be confounded : which fear to prevent, 
In caverns dark the Sire omnipotent 
Immured them, and imposed a king with sway 
To force them to submit and to obey. 70 

Unto the tyrant spoke the queen of heaven : 
M JEole, siuce Jove to thee has given 
Kule o'er the winds that smite the sky and sea, 
That race detested, hateful unto me, 
Now on the Tyrrhene sea, with vanquished gods, 75 
Are seeking still Hesperian abodes ; 
Smite, overwhelm them, sink them in a storm. 
I have two choirs of nymphs of matchless form, 
Of whom the fairest Deiopeia, she 
Shall your reward for zealous service be, 80 

In wedlock she thy bed and board shall grace, 
And make thee parent of a beauteous race." 

And iEolus replied : " queen, 'tis thine 
To choose ; command, and to obey be mine. 

B 2 



i 



. 



4 THE .3ENEIS. Book I. 

'Twas thy request, tliy influence with Jove, 85 

Enthroned me here ; and at the feasts above 
Command my subjects as thine own they were." 
He smote the rock, out rushed the sons of air, 
Eurus and Notus, stormy Africus, 

Upon the ocean press, and emulous 90 

In strife, rolled mountain billows to its shores. 
Arose the shouts of men and crash of oars ; 
The light of day was wrapt from human eyes, 
Black night involved the sea and wrapped the skies. 
Forth flashed the lightnings, and from pole to pole 95 
Through the black vault above the thunders roll. 

^Eneas rose ; and raising to the spheres 

His suppliant hands, with sobs, preferred his prayers. 

" happier dust ! thrice and four times blest 

Ye who on plains of Troy in honour rest. 100 

Tydides, bravest of the Danaan band, 

Why sunk not I beneath thy mightier hand, 

When huge Sarpedon fell, when Hector slain, 

By spear iEacidan, pressed Ilium's plain 

In sight of Troy ; when Simois slowly ran, 105 

Clogged with the corpses, shields, and helms of man." 

Whilst yet he spoke the shrieking Aquilon 
Drove at the rended sails and bore him on. 
The oars were crashed, the undefended side 
Keeled to the blow of the resistless tide, 110 

And, mounted high upon the wave, the prow 
Peered through the chasm to the sands below. 
Three Notus drove upon the rocky bars, 
Called Altars bv Italian mariners, 



Book I. THE ^NEIS. 5 

When o'er the surface their huge reefs uprear ; 115 

Three Eurus cast upon the Syrtes, where 

They struck on fathomless absorbing sand. 

Then sunk Orontes and his Lycian band 

Full in their sight — the waves thein overwhelm, 

And bore away the helmsman and the helm ; 120 

The hulk ungoverned yielded to the blow, 

And plunged down headlong ; and amidst the flow 

Of troubled waters, armour, planks they see, 

And rarely men, unswallowed by the sea, 

Midst floating wrecks of Trojan luxury. 125 

And next the bark of Ilioneus failed, 
The winds against Alethes old prevailed, 
And Abas and Achates strove in vain ; 
With strength unequal their wracked vessels strain, 
And riven sides let in the conquering main. 130 

Of this turmoil and storm unauthorised 

W T as Neptune in his ocean's depths apprised. 

The offended power reared his majestic brow, 

And marked the rack above and storm below ; 

And him, JEneas, o'er the expanse driven ; 135 

Full well the god discerned the queen of heaven, 

Her hand and enmity. Eurus and Zephyrus 

Summoned before him, he addressed them thus : 

" Presumptuous sons of a presumptuous race, 

How dare ye thus, unauthorised, deface 140 

My realm, conflicting and inflicting ill, 

Which I . Be still, ye troubled waves, be still ! 

Presumptuous sons of air ! deem ye that I 
Will brook this scorn of my authority ? 



4 



6 THE JENEIS. Book I. 

Hence, to your lord and master, and from me 145 

Say thus much : that the empire of the sea 

Is mine, not his ; the trident to my hand 

Did Fate commit ; his sceptre of command 

Extends, Eurus, to your prison-house ; 

There let him curb your natures mutinous, 150 

And reign o'er caverns, jailer of the winds." 

Then Triton and Cymothoe he sends 

To free the ships on rocks and sands that lay, 

And force the Syrtes to regorge their prey. 

Himself assists : from his high car extends 155 

The mighty trident, and the conflict ends. 

So when sedition lures the rustic hinds, 
And stirs ignoble passion in their minds, 
When staves and stones and passion arms supply, 
It chance a man of known integrity 160 

Appear amidst them then, rebuked they stand, 
And yield to reason and to his command; 
So as with loosened reins the god progressed, 
The wild storm lulled, the waters sunk to rest. 

The tired iEneadaa then plied their oars, 165 

And turned their battered prows for Libya's shores. 
There is a harbour in whose deep recess 
The waters silent lie and motionless ; 
A r,ocky islet bars it from the main, 
Kound which the waters flow in channels twain, 170 

Flanked by twin cliffs reflecting o'er the flood 
The salvage ombrage of primaeval wood, 
With, hidden by its rocks, one grotto lone, 
With bursting fountains and with seats of stone — 
Haunt of its nymphs ! 175 



Book I. THE JENEIS. 7 

The shattered fleet met there ; 
iEneas numbered, they but seven were. 
They cast no anchors, threw no cables o'er ; 
The Trojans leapt impatiently to shore, 
Hailed with impatient joy the welcome land, ' 
And basked their stiffened limbs upon the strand. 180 
Achates next collected leaves and bark ; 
The stricken flint yielded its latent spark, 
And arid nutriment in flame ascends ; 
Then cereal arms and grain to land he sends, 
Contaminate with brine, but now their store, 185 

And preparation rung along the shore. 

iEneas scaled a rock and cast around 
An anxious gaze upon the blue profouud ; 
Whilst Antheus, Capys, and the standard high 
Caicus.of, his memory passed by, — 190 

His Phrygian biremes ; but the sea w T as void. 
He turned his gaze to land : three stags he spied, 
Followed by a whole herd upon the shore. 
Achates, by his side, the quiver bore ; 
ZEneas took the bow, the rapid wound 195 

Struck down the antlered leaders to the ground. 
He then assailed the herd ; and thickets through 
He followed them until he seven slew — 
One for each ship — and then rejoined his fleet, 
And made them happy with the gift of meat 200 

And wine : and wine* which old Acestes gave 
When from Trinacria launching on the wave 
Dividing, he thus cheered their troubled moods : 

" My comrades, tried in great vicissitudes 



8 THE ^ENEIS. Book I. 

Of good and evil lot, droop not so ! 205 

For Jove decrees an end to human woe. 

Kem ember Scylla and resounding caves ; 

Remember the Cyclopian rocks and waves. 

Arouse your spirits now, cast care away ; 

Hereafter, perhaps, the memory of to-day 210 

May make us glad. 

For Latium we are bound ; 
And accidents and chances us surround 
Before we may achieve that promised seat, 
Where Troy will rise again as high and great 
As in the days of old. So fate decrees, 215 

If we are equal her good gift to seize." 
^Eneas said — a simulated smile 
Hiding the grief that crushed his heart the while. 

The Trojans meantime fell upon the prey, 
Extracting bowels, and fat ribs they flay ; 220 

Upon the spits they range the quivering flesh ; 
The grassy seats their wearied frames refresh, 
And Bacchus and fat venison make them glad. 
Hunger appeased, again the talk grows sad : 
Long they disputed on their comrades' fate ; 225 

Some mourned for them as dust, some more elate 
Still cherished hopes. ./Eneas cherished none ; 
He thought Orontes of, now lost and gone ; 
Of Amycus, of Gyas, Lycus bold, 
And brave Cloanthus. So the hours rolled. 230 

Now Jupiter from highest ether cast 
His gaze paternal o'er the countries vast 



Book I. THE ^NEIS. 9 

Of peopled earth and her bark-bearing seas ; 

Libya him now attracted more than these. 

There Venus came ; her heart oppressed with cares, 235 

And her bright eyes suffused with gushing tears. 

" Thou." she said, " eternal majesty, 
Ruling the men below and gods on high, 
What has ^Eneas done ? The Trojans what ? 
What fault have they committed we know not, 240 

That thus oppressed with slaughter they are hurled 
Away from Italy o'er all the world. 
Thy promise was, that future Romans sprung 
From Teucer's blood should rule man's race among, 
And hold the world beneath their sovereign sway. 245 
What has reversed that promise ? Father, say. 
That promise recompensed for ruined Troy, 
When fate conflicted fate to her annoy. 
Still from misfortune we have no release, 
Lord of all, when will these trials cease ? 250 

Escaped the Greeks, has not Antenor found 
A rest and refuge on Illyrian ground ; 
Liburnian kingdoms founded, where the fount 
Timavus of, bursts from the caverned mount 
In sources nine ; the gushing waters sweep, 255 

Rolling and foaming to their parent deep. 
There stands Patavium founded, and he reigns 
In peace with Trojan laws on foreign plains ; 
And we, your offspring, heritors of heaven, 
Victims of private hate and wrath, are driven 260 

Wide from the promised shores of Italy. 
Is this the guerdon due to piety ? 
Is this the sceptre thou hast promised me ? " 



10 THE JENEIS. Book I. 

The Thunderer smiled ; that brow which clears the sky 

Beamed as he kissed his child, and made reply : 265 

" Fear not, my Cythereia ; fates remain 

Ever unchanged : your own Lavinian reign, 

Walls, cities shall arise ; and thy great son, 

Magnanimous iEneas, his race run, 

Kise to the stars ; the promise is unchanged. 270 

Come, let me calm your breast, by doubts deranged, 

Albeit divulging fate to give it rest. 

By him Italia's wrongs must be redressed ; 

Her rugged sons must be subdued by war, 

And laws and cities framed superior far. 275 

Three circling years, the period we ordain 

For the Eutulian conquest and his reign ; 

And then the boy Ascanius, surnamed 

lulus — Ilus from and Ilion famed — 

He shall reign thirty years, and then transfer 280 

The seat of empire to Alba, where 

For centuries three shall the Hectorean race 

Govern and reign. 

Then Mars asserts his place ; 
The Eoyal Ilia, vestal maid, shall bear 
The Brother twins : and Komulus shall rear — 285 

In yellow wolf-hide clad, proud of nurse grim, 
Mavortial walls of Home : so named from him. 

Eternal empire thence do I decree ; 
No term of time, no limit shall there be 
To Roman sovereignty. Juno, who troubles so 290 

Earth, skies, and seas, inflicting ills and woe, 
She shall relent, and join her power divine 
To honour and protect the togaed line. 



Book I. THE ^NEIS. 11 

The time shall also come, we will it too, 
Phthia shall bend, and haught Mycenae bow ; 295 

And captive Argos own the house of Tros ; 
And Caesar from that house illustrious 
And noblest scion sprung, whose realm the main, 
Whose fame the circling spheres shall not restrain, 
And Julius from the great lulus named, 300 

Him shall you here receive in honour, famed 
For oriental spoil ; our voice shall seat him here : 
Then shall the troubled ages cease to fear ; 
For then on earth shall Faith and Vesta reign, 
With Eemus and Quirinus : Law again 305 

Shall close with iron bolt the doors of War ; 
Immured within, shall impious Discord jar, 
With hands enchained bound to her battle car." 

The Thunderer ceased, and then sent Maia's son 

To walls of Carthage, rising Libya on, « 310 

To open wide its hospitable gate 

To wandering Troy, lest ignorant of fate 

Dido might chase them thence. 

The Power obeyed. 
Stooping to earth he human fears allayed, 
And by his will expelled ferocity 315 

From Punic hearts, native barbarity ! 
And in their queen instilled by force divine 
A generous spirit and a soul benign. 

Now from his sleepless couch and vain repose 
At morning's earliest dawn iEneas rose, 320 

Anxious, in adverse fortune, to explore 
What seemed a wild uncultivated shore. 



12 THE ^NEIS. Book I. 

The fleet was safe, hidden the vessels lay, 

'Neath beetling cliffs within the wooded bay ; 

Two spears of trenchant blade within his hand. 325 

He called Achates from the slumbering band, 

And sallied forth, when, as they trod the glade, 

Before his eyes, like to a Spartan maid, 

With Spartan arms and huntress mein addressed, 

His goddess mother stood : her flowing vest, 330 

Bound by the scarf, hung scantly to her knee, 

Her tresses unconfined — Harpalyce, 

Surpassing Eurus in unbridled speed, 

In such a garb urges her Thracian steed. [335 

" Ho, friends ! my sisters have they passed this way ? 
Or heard ye as ye went the boar at bay ? 
Clad are they in the lynx's spotted hide.'' 
So Venus ; and to her, her son replied : 
" Nought of thy sisters have we heard or seen, 
Maiden — I call thee maiden, but thy mien 340 

And voice and aspect are divine ; if so, 
If Cynthia or a nymph immortal thou, 
O be propitious, and in pity deign 
Relieve our doubts : cast hither from the main, 
Wrecked on this land we wander, ignorant 345 

Or of the realm itself or habitant, 
Do thou instruct us ; and in sacrifice 
Our grateful offerings unto thee shall rise." 

" Attribute not to me," the goddess said, 
" Honours divine ; wont is a Tyrian maid, 350 

With purple buskins girt, to chase the deer. 

This is the Punic realm ; the Tyrians here, 



Book T. THE 2ENEIS. 13 

Sons of Agenor, dwell ; the Libyans round, 

Intractable to peace, possess the bound. 

Here Dido reigns, who fled fraternal hate ; 355 

Her many wrongs — ah ! how shall I narrate. 

I'll sum them briefly. Siehaeus was her spouse ; 

He won her maiden hand and maiden vows. 

Rich in Phoenician fields his peers above, 

His wealth was only equalled by his love. 360 

Pygmalion, her brother, heirecl the throne, 
And he a reprobate : second to none 
Was he in wickedness ; therefore intervened 
Hatred betwixt them ; and he slew, though screened 
By the horned altar, in contempt of laws, 365 

Her spouse Sichaeus — lust of gold the cause. 
He hid the deed of murder, and he lied, 
Deluding with vain hopes his brother's bride ; 
But in the silent night the wandering shade 
Unsepulchred appeared to her, and made 370 

Disclosure of the deed ; divulged the crime, 
Polluted altar, told the spot and time, 
And urged her to escape, to rise and flee, 
To quit her country, and to cross the sea ; 
And for the means of flight he then revealed 375 

Where gold and silver treasure lay concealed — 
Uncounted heaps of wealth. And Dido fled, 
But by so many friends accompanied, 
Who writhed beneath the tyranny or fear ; 
They seized the vessels that were anchored near, 380 
And loaded them with gold — Pygmalion's gold ! 
A woman chief devised the action bold. 



i 



14 THE MKffiB. Book I. 

Hither they sped and built — you may descry 

The citadel of Carthage soaring high, 

Byrsa its name — so called from deed of sale, 385 

And stretched out bullock's hide. 

Told is my tale. 
Now, prythee, who are ye ? Why come you here ? 
And whither lies your way — from whence and where ? " 

Deep in his breast he sighed a heavy sigh. 
" Goddess ! " he said, " should I essay reply, 390 

Before the tale calamitous would end 
Vesper from high Olympus would descend. 
We are of ancient Troy, if unto thee 
The name of Troy be known : wrecked on the sea, 
Chance cast us here upon this Libyan shore. 395 

Pius * ^Eneus I. My vessels bore 
My gods snatched from the flames and enemy, 
The fame whereof is known in ether high. 
W T e seek Italia ; and I spring from Jove. 
With twenty ships, led by the Queen of Love, 400 

My goddess mother, sailed I seas of late ; 
But few have 'scaped from Eurus and from fate — 
Needy, unknown, through Libyan deserts, quelled, 
Banished from Asia, Europe from expelled " 

Here Yenus interposed ; she could not bear 405 

To list the story with maternal ear, 
But answered him in haste. 

" Whoe'er thou art, 
I scarcely think celestial hatred part 
Of woes you suffer, whilst you can prefer 
Your suit unto our queen and sue to her. 410 

Pius : expiable ; accepting atonement in lieu of sacrifice ; ruthful. 



Book I. THE JENEIS. 15 

Your vessels all are safe, for Aquilon 

Has wafted thein to port, ay, every one ; 

Your comrades all are safe, my parents taught 

Me augury, set not my words at naught : 

Cast up your eyes, and see twelve swans above, 415 

Which, lately scattered by the bird of Jove, 

Now troop and reassemble in the skies, 

And seem to meditate the land that lies 

Beneath their ken. Hark ! how they chant and sing, 

And circle in the blue on strident wing. 420 

Well, even so, your vessels and your powers 

Now reassemble on these shores of ours. 

Pursue your fortune — thither lies your way." 

The goddess said and turned, the roseate ray 
Reflecting from her neck ; ambrosia played 425 

Through her bright hair ; and, garments re-arrayed, 
Her robe descending clustered o'er her feet ; 
Confessed she walked in majesty complete. 
But when her son her parting steps pursued, 
" How oft, how oft in false similitude, 430 

Mother, my mother, you delude your son ! 
wherefore do you my embraces shun, 
And speak to me in accents not your own ? " 

But whilst he thus complained the goddess shrouds 
Them both in brightness of ethereal clouds. 435 

She unto Paphos bent her course, where flows 
Sabsean incense through the wreaths of rose 
Her hundred altars round. 

They scaled the brow 
To where the rising city lay below. 



10 THE ^JNEIS. BookL 

All laboured, all were busied : some inclose 440 

The citadel with walls, whilst others chose 

Sites for the seats of justice and of state ; 

Others the port and harbour excavate ; 

Some the proud theatre's foundations place, 

And quarried sculptured columns it to grace, 445 

The boast and pride of their descendant race. 

The hive of bees when springtide is begun 
So raid the flowery meadows in the sun ; 
The seniors lead the youth to meads and rill ; 
Some with the liquid nectar stay and fill 450 

The waxen cells ; some ease the fragrant load 
Of food nectarious ; others chase abroad 
Of ignominious drones the idle chime, 
And all the hive is redolent of thyme. 

One grove remained within the city bound 455 

Of densest shade : 'twas where the Tyrians found 
The head of battle-steed — predestined sign 
Of royal Juno there to build her shrine, 
Promise of wealth and conquest ages through. 

Sidonian Dido founded it unto 460 

Saturnian Juno, all one solid mass, 
Portals, and gates, and stairs of shining brass. 
iEneas entered : all that met his eye 
Kenewed his hope and spoke security. 
For whilst with gaze unwearied he reviewed 465 

The fane's magnificence and magnitude, 
He sees, in all due order there portrayed 
The siege of Troy. Fame had the facts conveyed 
Through the whole world : Atrides, Priam, and 
Wrathful Achilles, whose unfriendly hand 470 



Book I. THE J3NEIS. 17 

Wrought ill to both : iEneas stood and sighed, 

" my Achates — through the world, world, wide 

Is there a spot that does not know the tale ? 

Lo ! there is Priam. Virtue doth avail 

To rouse the meed of praise and generous tear ; 475 

Our fame preceding us allays my fear." 

And yet he spoke with eyes bedimmed with tears, 

For he beheld the ranks of Phrygian spears 

Quelling the Greeks ; again on battle car 

Crested Achilles, slaughtering them afar. 480 

There the white tents of Khesus were portrayed, 
To the dark night and Dionied betrayed, 
And intercepted steeds before they stood 
In Trojan stall, or drank of Xanthus' flood. 

And there young Troilus, who dared defy 485 

The great Achilles, and was forced to fly ; 
The noble boy was dragged along the plains, 
Yet e'en in death he grasped the horses' reins, 
His comely form depending in the rear, 
Furrowed the dust with the inverted spear. 490 

Again portrayed, the temple and the train 
Of Trojan matrons to Minerva's fane, 
Bearing the Pepluin*, to propitiate 
The unjust power by such solemn state : 
Her glance oblique, bewrayed divine annoy. 495 

And corpse of Hector dragged, around his Troy. 
And there, Achilles selling it for gold. 
The hero's passion burst forth uncontrolled ; 

* The sail of the ship Panatheniaca at Athens : a mystic robe 
elsewhere. 



18 THE yENEIS. Book I. 

Beside the body, arms and chariot stood, 

And Priam kneeling, suppliant and good. 500 

Then did he recognise himself in fight, 

Where foes were thickest ; and in armour dight, 

The sable Memnon with Eoan might. 

Penthesileia— Amazonian queen — 
With golden zone and lunar shield was seen, 505 

And the bared bosom ; on her battle car 
She led her dauntless troop of maids to war. 

The whilst on these with undisguised delight 
iEneas fed his fascinated sight, 

Dido approached, in all the majesty 510 

Of beauty and of regal dignity. 

So on Eurotas' banks, or Cynthus' brow, 
Diana leads the choirs, and views below 
The clustering ranks of the Oreades. 
The goddess moves midst quivered bands of these 515 
Alike, but how superior ! by her side 
Latona's breast maternal throbs with pride. 
So also Dido walked, pre-eminent 
Her maidens 'midst, on regal cares intent. 
Beneath the dome, upon the throne of state ; 520 

Circled by arms, with open doors she sate, 
And righted wrongs, and promulgated laws, 
Assigned to all their several tasks, or draws 
The impartial lot. 

The whilst a clamour loud 
Arose without from an approaching crowd ; 525 

And Antheus and Sergestes, Cloanthus, 
And other Trojans dragged along, and thus 



Book 1. THE 2ENEIS. 19 

They met again their chief ; upon the main 

Dispersed and scattered, here they met again. 

With fears, with joy, iEneas stood oppressed. 530 

Achates, he, with silent hand, repressed, 

Ardent to greet them ; but discretion bade 

Them to retain awhile their friendly shade, 

And so to learn their fortune and their need, 

Where the ships were, and what the queen decreed. 535 

Suppliant they came, but with a front serene, 
Great Ilioneus addressed the queen : — 

" queen, whom Jupiter permits to found 
This empire, and control proud nations round, 
We, helpless Trojans, shipwrecked, now implore 540 
To spare from flame our vessels on your shore, 
And to protect a pious race with aid. 
We come not here as robbers, lands to raid, 
We come not to your shores to drive a prey, 
And freighted with a booty sail away ; 445 

We, we alas ! are fugitive and weak. 
Hesperia is the land we exiled seek, 
So called by Greeks ; Italia named by us 
And later fame ; ancient and populous 
By old (Enotrians held, and fertile too ; 550 

To that Italia we were bound unto ; 
But dim Orion rose athwart our course, 
And Auster overwhelmed us with his force, 
And so we drove through mist and clouds obscure 
Menaced by rocks and yeasty waves to shore ; 555 

And what a shore ! where barbarous customs reign ; 
What race of man, where such bad laws obtain ! 

c 2 



20 THE iENEIS. Book I. 

Opposed by force, by arms forbade to land, 

Denied the refuge of the barren sand, — 

For fellow men if ye lack brotherhood, 560 

Yet fear the gods — they reward ill and good ; 

Vengeance is theirs. 

iEneas was our king, 
Justice and piety inheriting, 
And none, than he, greater in martial might. 
If yet he live, if yet he see the light, 565 

He will, Queen, requite thine offices. 
For yet in realms Siculian o'er these seas, 
The good Acestes holds his reign benign, 
Sprung from the Trojan blood and Teucrian line. 
Then grant us license from your forests vast 570 

Our oars to cut and vessels to remast, 
And speed us on our way ; if fate decree, 
That Latium and Italia we may see. 
But if, best of Teucer's race, if thou 
Art lost in Libyan waters, and if now 575 

The young lulus gone, no hopes remain ; 
We will retrace our course across the main, 
And dwell with our own countrymen and laws." 

Ilioneus ceased : and murmurs of applause 
Followed his speech and intervening pause. 580 

Then Dido briefly, pensively replied : — 
" Trojans, be reassured, cast fear aside, 
It is necessity and not my will, 
Compels me to protect my realms from ill. 
Who knows not the iEneadaa and Troy, 585 

Her chiefs, her virtues, and her history? 



Book L THE ^ENEIS. 21 

Not so obtuse the souls we Tyrians bear, 

Nor quite disjoined from all, do we dwell here ; 

Whether you seek Hesperia and the plains 

Saturaian, or where good Acestes reigns, 590 

Or Erycinan bounds, aid shall ye have, 

And safely hence relaunch upon the wave. 

Moor then your ships ; and if it please you well 

To join my empire, here to s£ay and dwell, 

Trojan and Tyrian indiscriminately 595 

Shall be protected equally by me. 

And lest your warlike king iEneas errs 

Upon my shores, be sure my messengers 

Shall seek him to the limits of my reign." 

Hardly could good iEneas then restrain 600 

His wish to burst his cloud. Achates spoke : 
" goddess-born, tell me what thoughts evoke 
These words thy heart within ? All, all is true, 
All your celestial mother told to you ; 
But one alone is absent, whom we know €05 

Submerged to sleep the Libyan wave below." 

Then rose the veil, and in the ether pure 
iEneas stood ; the semblance that he wore 
Was as a god's, for o'er him Venus threw, 
With lavish hand, her gifts of roseate hue ; 610 

Joy sparkled in his eye — as ivory 
Or Parian marble, or the silvery dye 
Circled with gold ; so did the chief appear, 
As frankly thus he said : — 

" Behold me here ! 
Trojan iEneas, safe from Libyan seas. 615 

O thou, who only plain'st our miseries ; 



22 THE ^B3NEIS. Book I. 

Thou, who alone hast refuged our distress, 

And viewed our sufferings with gentleness — 

We and our mortal faculties are weak 

Due praise and worthy recompense to speak ; 620 

The gods, Dido, the great deities, 

And thine own breast must give its meed of praise ; 

But I, whilst fountains run unto their deep, 

Whilst through yon concave lights etherial sweep, 

Where'er fate calls me, still will I proclaim 625 

The praise and honour due to Dido's name." 

Then with impatient grasp the hero pressed, 
Ilioneus first — Sergestes, and the rest, 
Gyas and bold Cloanthus. 

Meantime, amazed, 
Upon the chief, Sidonian Dido gazed ; 630 

" And art thou then iEneas, Venus bore 
Dardan Anchises to, on Phrygian shore 
Of Simois ; — 

Exiled from Salamis, when Teucer sought 
At Sidon, at my father Belus' court, 635 

A realm his sire denied, — my father quelled 
Then Cyprus with his arms and subject held 
Her under tribute ; often when Teucer told 
Me tales of fallen Troy and warriors bold, 
How often did I hear ZEneas named 640 

Midst Trojan chiefs and kings Pelasgian famed. 
Himself your foe, he witnessed to your worth 
And Teucrian honour, and I, too, my birth 
He oft would say deduce from the same line — 
Teucer of Troy was ancestor of mine. 646 



Book I. THE ^SNEIS. 23 

Then welcome Trojans, welcome unto me, ■ 
I too have known and proved adversity ; 
Long time a wearied wanderer, I know, 
Taught by misfortune, pity to bestow." 

So Dido led iEneas home, and bade 650 

That sacred rites and sacrifice be paid 
Unto the deities : and ordered to the shore, 
Where lay the Trojan ships, an ample store 
Of steers, and ewes, and lambs, and fatted swine, 
And the good gift of Father Bacchus, wine. 655 

The feast at home was spread : in Tyrian dye 
Superb, the halls of regal luxury ; 
Embroidered curtains fell, and silver shone 
And gold in vases, sculptured whereupon 
Were the achievements, wars, and actions high 660 

Of her time-honoured royal ancestry. 

But the paternal bosom sought his son ; 
Achates was despatched with speed to run 
And lead with him Ascanius ; without him 
Dull was the pageant, and the light was dim ; 665 

And reliques saved from Iliacan flames ; 
Rigid with gold the Palla — Trojan dames 
Had worked ; also the mystic veil, 
Croceate acanthus bound the vestment pale, 
'Twas Argive Helena's ; that veil she owned, 670 

Her mother Leda's gift, ere she atoned 
Unhallowed Hymeneals, ere she came 
My cense from to set the world in flame. 
Also the sceptre which in days of yore 
King Priam's daughter, Ilione bore, 675 



24 THE ^NEIS. Book I. 

And the pearl necklace and the diadem, 
Of duplicated rows of gold and gem ; 
Back to the ships Achates sped for them. 

But Cythereia, in her restless mind- 
New stratagems and treacheries designed ; 680 
That Cupicl should assume Ascanius' place, 
And in the father's and the queen's embrace 
Smite Dido's heart with the resistless fire : 
For still she feared lest the false house of Tyre 
And Tyrians double-tongued, and Juno's hate, 685 
Might counteract the fixed decrees of fate. 
To Love, her purple-pinioned progeny, 
The goddess spoke : 

" My strength, divinity 
Contemning the Typhoean bolts of Jove, 
Thy mother seeks thee, deity of love. 690 

You know, my son, and you commiserate 
Your brother's wanderings, and Juno's hate. 
Phoenissian Dido now beguiles his ear, 
Detaining him in Carthage ; but I fear 
Junonian hospitality and ire. 695 

Lend me your aid, my Cupid, and inspire 
With love — love passionate, the woman's soul 
Past human influence, past divine control, 
And bind her in its fetters. Now the boy, 
The royal boy, my care, with gifts from Troy 700 

Sets forth for the Sidonian town, to greet 
His sire impatient : him, on Cythera sweet 
Or in my sacred bower Idalian, 
In balmy slumber wrapped will I detain, 



Book I. THE ^JNEIS. 25 

And thou, thyself a boy — to mortal sight 705 

Assume his form, 'tis only for one night — 
And when the fascinated woman strains 
Thee to her breast, infuse then in her veins, — 
When they feast high, when deep libations flow 
Whilst warmest on thy cheek her kisses glow, 710 

Infuse thy venom and resistless fires." 

And Cupid, glad to second the desires 
Of his dear mother, doffed his wings with glee, 
Strutting as young lulus. Meanwhile she 
Enwrapped the young Ascanius in sleep, 715 

And bore him in her bosom o'er the deep, 
To her Idalian amaranthine grove, 
And meads that sacred were to her and love. 

So with Achates the false Cupid went, 
To Tyrian halls to do his soul's intent. 720 

There sat imperial Dido couched on gold ; 
Around the Trojans and their chieftain hold 
Places respective, couched on Tyrian dye. 
Water and napkins first the men supply, 
And after heaped the canisters with bread ; 725 

And fifty damsels in long order led, 
Tended the hearth and powers presiding there ; 
A hundred youth, a hundred maidens fair 
Handed the meats and wines ; and Tyrians sate 
Embroidered couches on with joy elate ; 730 

At gifts iEnean marvelling much, but more 
At the disguised lulus, for he wore 
His attributes divine, with heavenly speech ; 
Palla and veil they handled, pleased with each. 



26 THE ^GNEIS. Book I. 

But mostly thou,;Phoenissa ! doomed to ill — 735 

Doomed the devoted future to fulfil — 
O'er the false image of the boy wert bent. 
He for a moment to his father went, 
And owned his greeting : then the regal breast 
He sought and nestled in ; he, foe to rest ! 740 

Unconscious Dido, little didst thou wist 
It was a god there working his own list. 

His Acidalian mother's high behest 
Then he fulfilled ; he chased from Dido's breast 
All memory of Sychseus — then anew 745 

Fresh venom cast the dormant pulses through, 
And merged them in the gushing tide of love. 

The tables, the feast over, they remove, 
And mighty goblets with red wine were crowned, 
And mirth and gladness echoed halls around. 750 

And when the shades of night rushed on, and all 
The lamps depending lighted were in hall, 
Dido commanded, and they brought the bowl 
Flowing with wine, of gold and gems the whole, 
Whence Belus drank, and in the days of yore 755 

The ancestors of Belus. This they bore, 
And Dido broke the silence. " Jupiter — 
Thou unto whom we pious prayers prefer 
For stranger guests ; grant to-day may be 
A welcome feast, through long posterity ; 760 

Hear ! gracious Juno, hear us, Bacchus, sire ! 
1 Eternal concord between Troy and Tyre ! ' 
And ye, my Tyrians, let the pledge pass round." 

She dropped the due libation on the ground 



Book I. THE ^ENEIS. 27 

And raised the bowl, and kissed the golden edge, 765 
And passed to Bitias to redeem the pledge. 
He, proud of the preferment, thirsty soul, 
With an insatiate pleasure, drained the bowl. 
Then drank the peers in turn. 

His golden lyre 
Unshorn Iopas swept with sacred fire, 770 

And taught what mighty Atlas sung of yore — 
The wandering moon, the labours the sun bore ; 
Of man, of animals, of fire, of rain, 
Of bright Arcturus, of Triones twain, 
And watery Hyades ; why wintry days 775 

Were so compressed, and why the sun delays 
To set in summer eve : each secret cause 
Divulged in turn, eliciting applause. 

And so the night sped on, and deeply quaffed 
Unhappy Dido of the fated draught ; 780 

Of Priam much, of Hector asking more, 
And of the armour sable Memnon wore, 
Of huge Achilles, and of Diomed 
And his unrivalled steeds ; at length she said : — 

" My guest ! from the commencement now relate 785 
The Grecian wiles, and all the Trojan fate, 
And all your wanderings over lands and main, 
Seven years of labours, which you still sustain." 



Book II. THE ^NEIS. 29 



BOOK II. 

All listened hushed. Father iEneas rose 
Upon the lofty couch of his repose : 

*' Dost thou, queen, bid me to renovate 
The slumbering grief, dost bid me to narrate 
The fall of Troy — the prey to Grecian might, 5 

And all the story of that dreadful night — 
Woes which I witnessed, woes of which I bare 
Such heavy part ? Ah ! who the tale could hear 
Dolopian, Myrmidon, or of the train 
Of rude Ulysses, and from tears refrain ? 10 

Now o'er the heaven night her mantle throws, 
Now setting stars invite us to repose ; 
But if such wish is irrepressible 
Possessing thee, queen, to hear in full 
Troy's downfall told, albeit memory 15 

Starts from the mind abhorrent, I will try. 

Beaten in battles and -by Fates repelled 
So many years, the Danaan leaders quelled, 
Framed an enormous horse ; by Pallas taught, 
The fabric huge, of seasoned fir was wrought ; 20 

Pretending it their offering to be, 
Votive, for safe return across the sea. 
So rumour ran ; but in its hollow hull 
Were warriors hidden, its huge ribs were full, 



30 THE ^ENBIS. Book II. 

Chosen by lot, of men and chiefs of name. 25 

In sight lies Tenedos. Isle known to fame 

For its abundant wealth in Priam's day, 

Now an untrusty port and faithless bay : 

The Greeks behind it hid — w r e thought them fled, 

Back to Mycenae we believed them sped. 30 

And liberated Troy threw wide her gates, 

And gushing forth and free, luxuriates 

In Doric camps and the deserted shore. 

Unwearied in the search, they sites explore : 

Where the Dolopians, where Achilles lay, 35 

And where the fleet in the deserted bay, 

But most the monster steed's stupendous size, — 

Unwed Minerva's gift, excites surprise. 

Then first Thymoetes — was it treachery, 

Or did our adverse fates e'en so decree ? — 40 

Proposed to plant it in the citadel ; 

But Capys and some others, reasoning well, 

Mindful of Grecian wile and subtlety, 

Proposed to burn or cast it in the sea, 

Or bore its hollow womb — the fickle crowd 45 

Shouting on either side applauses loud. 
Then from the citadel, Laocoon 

With a huge concourse, hot with haste, rushed on ; 

Shouting afar, i What madness do I hear, 

men, misguided citizens, beware ! 50 

Think you the foe is vanished with the fleet, 

Where'er are Danaan gifts, there is deceit — 

Is Ithacan Ulysses all forgot ? 

Some wile is here, Teucrians, trust it not ! 



Book II. THE ^ENEIS. 31 

Either that hollow ark contains the foe, 55 

Or fabricated 'tis to level low 

The Trojan walls, and burst upon our town. 

Mischief it bodes — if not to batter down, 

Mischief it bodes — Greeks and their gifts, I fear.' . 

He said, and speaking, cast his weighty spear ; 60 

Deep in the monster's side the weapon stood, 

Quivering it struck and pierced the hollow wood — 

The hollow wood resounded to the blow, 

And thus — but we besotted willed it so, 

Unless, indeed, 'twas so by Heaven ordained — 65 

Troy would have stood, and Priam still have reigned. 

Some shepherds now a warrior had found, 
And to King Priam brought the captive bound ; 
One who captivity had daring sought, 
Confiding in himself — distrusting nought, 70 

Prepared to perish or to compass how 
Troy and her destinies to overthrow. 
Now listen to a Grecian wile — now learn, 
And in this one the fraudful race discern. 75 

Trembling, he stood, amid his threatening foes, 
A troubled anxious gaze around he throws. 
' Alas' ! he uttered, ' further woes and pains ; 
What refuge spot on earth to me remains, 
For Greece inhibits me, and Troy demands 80 

My captive blood ; hostile all lands and hands !' 
His groans were pitiful — our sympathy 
Was touched and won at his feigned misery. 
We asked his name and race, and what he knew ; 
But warning, that small credence was his due. 85 



32 THE ^ENEIS. Book II. 

He, casting off pretended fears, replied : 

' Nothing, King ! from thee have I to hide ; 

Falsehood I hate ; neither could I deny 

My country ; of Argolic race am I- — 

Sinon my name. Familiar unto thee 90 

Belides Palamedes' name may be ; 

Name honoured and revered : Greece did him wrong ; 

Now she laments it, must lament it long ; 

Falsely accused and rashly doomed to die, 

For honest counsel and integrity. 95 

He was my kinsman, and beneath his care, 

Needy and young, him did I follow here, 

And whilst he lived, a warrior known to fame, 

I shared the repute of his noble name. 

But when, the victim of Ulysses' hate 100 

(I speak of facts well known), he met his fate, 

Hence I withdrew and mourned in solitude, 

But not in silence — grief is ever rude. 

And I declared, if Fortune should restore 

Me unto Argos — to my native shore — 105 

I would revenge his death ; that sealed his hate, 

And thence all my calamities I date : 

Thence, novel accusations day by day, 

Forged by Ulysses, crossed me on my way ; 

Insinuated doubts, ambiguous lies 110 

To turn men's minds from his iniquities, 

And fasten them on me ; nor ceased until 

He Calchas caused — 

But wherefore do I tell 



Book II. THE ^ENEIS. 33 

This tale to ye ? all hostile is to me, 

A Grecian victim I am doomed to be — 115 

And by my death, you do the best you can 

To please Atrides, and the Ithacan.' 

Again did we conjure, interrogate, 
And, blind to fraud, compel him to relate : 
He trembling still, his specious tale pursued : 120 

' Often the Grecians failed in fortitude, 
And wearied of long wars, and fruitless toil, 
"Would dream of home ; but sometimes winds would foil 
Their cherished wish, and sometimes winter raved ; 
Winter and winds perchance they would have braved, 
But not the portents sequent on yon steed. [125 

Thunders and lightnings followed on our deed, 
"When we with maple wood constructed it. 
Then they awaited for a season fit, 
And sent Eurypylus to learn the doom 130 

From Oracle of Phoebus — unto whom 
This answer was returned — 

" A virgin slain, 
Appeased with blood the winds and soothed the main, 
When Greece for Troy assembled on the sea : 135 

Xow buy retreat with blood, and let it be 
Argolican." 

Quailed every spirit then — 
Tremor and dread chilled all our ranks of men, 
Dreading to be the sacrifice designed. 140 

Then Ithacus dragged Calchas from behind, 
And bade him to expound the Phoeban lot ; 
All straightway saw, and understood the plot, 



34 THE ^NEIS. Book II. 

And every finger indicated me. 

But Calchas held his peace, for ten days he 145 

Kefused the sanction of his sacred voice 

To ratify their preconcerted choice. 

But Ithacus prevailed by clamour loud, 

And I the victim. The contented crowd 

Shouting applause at their immunity, 150 

And for the sacrifice accepting me. 

It came at last the sacrificial day, 
My brows were filleted : the altar lay 
Decked in my sight — the salted meal was shed ; 
When, I confess the fact, unshackled, led, 155 

Devoted, to the shrine, I burst their bands 
And fled unto the marsh and rushy lands, 
And there concealed I lay until their sails 
Were out of sight of land : but what avails 
Escape to me ? shall I see any more 160 

My father, children, or my native shore ? 
Do they not rather bear the penalty 
And forfeit life or liberty for me ? 
But by the gods and conscious powers of truth, 
If faith inviolate — if hearts of ruth 165 

Remain on earth, pity my perils past, 
And let my innocence find rest at last !' 

Moved by his tears, King Priam gave commands 
To loose his fetters and unbind his hands, 
Greeting with friendly speech : ' Whoe'er you be, 170 
Forget the Grecians gone : now you are free, 
Remain with us : but let me understand 
What is that monstrous fabric — wherefore planned 



Book II. THE iENEIS. 35 

In form of steed : religious, or what for ? 

Is it an offering, or machine of war ?' 175 

He, wily in Pelasgian fraud, replied, 
Kaising his hands unfettered, high and wide : 
' ye eternal fires of heaven ! by ye, 
By your inviolate divinity, 

I swear — and by the altar and the knife, 180 

The sacred fillets, and my forfeit life, 
Grant that, without impiety, I may 
Utter the Grecian counsels and betray. 
Be it lawful to me to retaliate : 

I am not bounden to the men I hate ; 185 

Eeleased am I from country and its laws ; 
And, Trojans, if I benefit your cause, 
Bern ember it, with faith inviolate, 
And let me share the peace of your own state. 

The stay of Greece, in war her aiding power, 190 

Was ever Pallas : but from the fatal hour 
When Diomedes, and that man of fraud 
Ulysses, in her temple slew your guard, 
Bore the Palladium from its sacred shrine, 
Profaned, polluted, and the form divine, 195 

And maiden fillets of the goddess stained 
With sacrilegious blood — thence nought remained 
But deep despondence in the Grecian host ; 
Deserted by that power, hope was lost, 
Union and vigour fled. No doubtful sign 200 

Tritonia gave of wrath : when on the shrine 
We placed her image, the stern eyes flashed fire, 
Salt sweat exuded, undissembled ire 

d 2 



36 THE uENEIS. Book II. 

And indignation o'er her aspect thrilled, 

As with her spear she smote her sounding shield. 205 

Then holy Calchas rose and counselled flight, 

Troy unassailable to Danaan might 

He then declared, until our gifts should gain 

Propitiation at the Argive fane 

Of the offended goddess, and restore 210 

The omens — like as we obtained of yore ; 

Therefore they seek Mycense o'er the main, 

Armour and reinforcements to obtain, 

And gods propitious : and then reappear 

As Calchas shall direct, unwelcome here. 215 

He, Calchas, also bade them to atone 
The sacrilege for the Palladium won, 
And to construct yon horse — a mighty mass 
Of timber beams, so lofty, lest it pass 
Your portal gates, and unto Troy restore 220 

The guardian influence she owned before. 
For if your hands should violate that shrine, 
Then Priam's empire and the Dardan line 
(Heaven turn the omen on themselves) must fall ; 
But if it be enshrined in Trojan wall 225 

The doom reversed will be, and Greece must bear 
Asian supremacy — at home and here.' 

Such was — Oh, is it credible ? — the tale. 
Did great Tydides, did Achilles fail ; 
By thousand barks beleaguered for ten years, 230 

To fall at last a prey to lies and tears ! 

Nor was it all — another portent meet 
Was sent to make our misery complete. 



Book II. THE ^ENEIS. 37 

Laocoon, by lot, then Neptune's priest 

Officiating was at solemn feast, 235 

And sacrificed a bull. When o'er the sea 

From Tenedos, across — memory ! — 

The tranquil sea, with huge gyrations came, 

With heads and breasts erect and crests of flame, 

Two serpents : and, the blue wave lashed to foam, 240 

Koaring and spouting brine ; nor did they roam, 

But kept a course unswerving to the shore. 

We fled appalled : with eyes suffused with gore 

And fiery flame, they sought Laocoon — 

And as they neared the altar seized upon 245 

His little sons — on them assault began 

With deadly fangs : the wretched father ran 

With sacrificial axe to aid, and him 

They then assailed and shackled every limb. [250 

Twice round his waist, twice round his neck they wound, 

And reared their fiery crests, and gazed around. 

Within their knotted grasp he writhed and strained, 

Blue venomed gore his priestly garb distained, 

His clamour rent the skies, he roared with pain, 

Loud as the half-stunned bull that o'er the plain , 255 

Escaped the glancing axe, flees ere he fall. 

Their duty done, they entered in the hall 

And sought the fane of angry Pallas, where 

Crouching beneath her feet, and nestled there, 

They by her iEgis broad protected were. 260 

We were appalled ; our hearts were sick with fear. 
First we condemned Laocoon, whose spear 



38 THE ^ENEXS. Book II. 

Had so profaned with daring hand and deed ; 

And clamoured next to place the imaged steed 

Up in the sacred citadel, and gain 265 

The Power offended to our side again. 

We breached our walls — cast the defences down, 
All laboured, all — defenceless stood the town : 
Some fastened ropes, some placed the balks beneath 
The wheels, and hauled the monster fraught with death. 
The fatal engine moved : it scaled the walls : [270 

And youths and maidens as at festivals. 
Danced round and sung with an unsanctioned joy. 

Ilium, O my country, heaven-built Troy — 
Ye Dardan walls, unbent by war till then, 275 

How oft it struck, how oft imprisoned men, 
And armour sounded : greater was the din 
Wherewith we hauled the monster frame within 
The sacred citadel. 

Cassandra prophesied — 
Inspired maid : Apollo had denied 280 

All credence unto lips him had defied. 
So feasting, chapleted, festooned, we passed 
The day by fate foredoomed to be our last. 

Meantime the heavens turned, and night unfurled 
The sable veil and rushed upon the world, 285 

Lending her aid to Myrmidonian guile. 
Slumber — deep slumber, wrapped our limbs the while, 
Asleep at home was every Teucrian laid. 
The Argive phalanx left its ambuscade; 
From Tenedos, beneath the silent night 290 

By the waned moon's subdued befriending light, 



Book II. THE ^ENEIS. 39 

And deities consenting to destroy, 

Then they returned to fate-abandoned Troy. 

And when from royal prow the beacon blazed 
Sinon withdrew the bolts, and portals raised ; 295 

The thick-ribbed monster yielded up its men. 
Tisandrus, Sthenelus, and Thoas then 
First glided down — followed Ulysses grim, 
Pelides Neoptolemus with him ; 

And Athamas — and he who framed the fraud, 300 

Epeiis, and Machaon, — by the cord 
Last, Menelaus : on the slumbering town, 
Buried in wine and sleep, descending down, 
They seized the portals and the guards they slew, 
And called unto the prey th' expectant crew. 305 

'Twas midnight deep, when gentle sleep descends, 

The boon of Gods to man, and him befriends. 

I, lapped in slumbers too, forgot my cares, 

When Hector by my bed appeared in tears, 

Bloody and bruised, with pierced and swollen feet, 310 

As when the biga dragged him, doom unmeet ! 

But ah, how changed ! Oh, how unlike to him, 

Clad in the armour of Achilles grim ; 

Or him, the Phrygian leader, when he threw 

The firebrands amidst the Danaan crew. 315 

With clotted beard, with hairs all foul with gore, 

With all his wounds received in fight before 

His native walls exposed to sight : I broke 

The silence and with bursting tears I spoke : 

< Dardan light— firmest hope of Troy, 320 

Dost thou, beloved Hector, bring us joy, 



40 THE ^JNEIS. Book II. 

Absent so long hast thou returned at last, 

After our losses and our labours past ; 

But wherefore are those wounds displayed, and why 

Lowers that placid brow indignantly ?' 325 

But he my words nor heeded nor replied, 
Deep from his breast with heavy groan he sighed. 
' Flee, goddess-born : the foeman holds the wall, 
The city burns : Troy topples to her fall. 
Flee and escape the flames — our task is o'er ; 330 

For Troy, for Priam, we may do no more — 
If any hand might have saved Ilium 
It had been mine — its day of doom has come. 
Troy unto thee commends her household gods 
And panoplies — bear them to new abodes, 335 

Abodes which thou shalt found beyond the sea, 
Guardian companions of thy fate to be.' 
He said and then committed to my hands 
The priestly panoply, the fillet bands, 
The awful Vesta's imaged form divine, 340 

And the eternal fire from secret shrine. 

The tumult gathered, nearer and more near 

The tide and din of war broke on the ear ; 

Albeit Anchises' house sequestered stood, 

Quite separate and deeply set with wood, 345 

It burst its solitude : sleep shook aloof, 

I, apprehensive, clambered to the roof. 

As stands the herdsman when dismayed he sees 
The mountain torrent sweep off herds and trees ; 
As stands the husbandman as o'er the plain, 350 

Auster and flames of fire consume his grain ; 



Book II. THE ^NEIS. 41 

So, so I stood — the vision of my rest 
And Grecian wiles too plainly manifest. 
The Palace of Deiphobus in flame 
Fell thundering down ; also down thundering came 355 
Ucalegon's, its neighbour : the glare they gave 
Eeflected far o'er the Sisraean wave. 
The clang of trumpets, shouts of men, arose — 
Instinctively I armed, to join, oppose — 
I knew not what, but to rejoin my band, 300 

To flesh with slaughters a remorseless hand, 
To battle for the citadel — to die 
In arms, a warrior's death, and gloriously. 
But Pantheus then, Pantheus Otriades, 
The Priest of Phoebus, sanctuary flees, 365 

And wanders to my door : he bore in hand 
His vanquished deities, his fillet-band, 
And grandson by his side : ' Pantheu, tell 
What's to be done ? how stands the citadel?' 
He passionately said, ' 'Tis come the day — 370 

Inevitable hour — and pass away 
The Teucrian glories : the mighty Ilium was ; 
Trojans we were ; all, all is lost because 
The ruthless Jupiter grants Argos all, 
And Danaans domineer within the wall. 375 

The Horse, still pouring forth its warrior host, 
Sinon, insulting victor, making boast, 
Firing the town ; and Mycenaean bands 
Pour thro' the opened gates with swords and brands — 
Bands more than ever from Mycenae came — 380 

Obstruct our public passages with flame. 



42 THE iENEIS. Book II. 

The city is surprised, the guard is slain, 

And we o'erpowered are —resistance vain.' 
So spoke Otriades : I rushed to war, 

Fate and Erynnis called ; I met no bar, 385 

Where martial sounds were rifest there I sped ; 

Eipheus me followed, and with silvery head 

Old Iphitus, and guided by the moon 

Dymas and Hypanis — and followers soon 

Thickening our ranks — and the brave boy 390 

Mygdonides Choroebus ; he to Troy 

Burning with love had come — with troop to aid — 

Priam his uncle — the prophetic maid 

Cassandra his betrothed : her prophecies 

Wherefore, ill-fated boy, did he despise ? . 395 

1 comrades,' I began, ' of dauntless breast, 
Ye who stand here to do your hearts' behest, 
But do not be deceived : our Gods are gone, 
Fanes, altars are deserted — we alone. 
Troy would you succour ? Troy in ruin lies — 400 

Despair and rashness be our remedies, 
Conquered we are, unvanquished let us die.' 
As in the wintry solstice wolves forth hie, 
Prompted alone to glut their jaws with blood, 
And still their gaunt and ravened whelps with food, 405 
So thro' the town, night's hollow shades beneath, 
We held our slaughtering course in search of death. 
What tears can expiate, what words can tell 
The slaughter and the fate which then befell ? 
Troy toppling fell— mistress for centuries, 410 

Her slaughtered sons now blocked the public ways, 



Book II. THE ^ENEIS. 43 

Domestic thresholds and religious fanes ; 

But not alone — mingled with Grecian stains, 

Not sole or unavenged the Teucrians died, 

The Danaan victors fell : on every side 415 

"Was every form of wailing, woe and death. 

Androgeos and his band first fell beneath 
Our slaughtering swords : deeming us friends, he cried, 
' You're late, my boys, Troy's flames are waving wide ; 
She's burnt and plundered, whilst you safely slept 420 
Eocked in the ships : ' but when conviction swept 
That he was capturejd by a hostile band, 
Backward he shrunk with failing heart and hand ; 
So shrinks the unwary peasant, in the brake 
Eousing the venomous and crested snake, 525 

And quailing at its sudden swelling wrath, 
E'en so Androgeos quailed before our path ; 
And panic-stricken and bewildered they 
Succumbed to our assault, an "easy prey. 

So Fortune smiled with usual fickleness, 430 

And young Choroebus hailed our iirst success : 
' Comrades,' he cried, ' Fortune's own hand is here ; 
She points the way to safety, not despair. 
Let us change shields — by valour or by guile 
So we succeed, who heeds ? assume awhile 435 

These Danaan helms : they give us arms to stead.' 
So spoke Choroebus, placing on his head 
Androgeos' helm, girding his Argive sword 
And shield decorous ; and of one accord 
We did the like, all seized upon the spoil ; 440 

Dymas and Kipheus armed, by fraud to foil — 



44 THE ^ENEXS. Book II. 

And masked by the disguise and by the gloom 

We mingled with the foe : what crowds of whom 

We sent to Orcus then : how many fled, 

How many to their hollow ships then sped ; 445 

And many more smitten with turpid fear, 

Keclimbed the hollow horse and hid them there. 

But nought succeeds when Heaven refuses aid ! 
For lo ! Cassandra, Priameian maid, 
Dragged, locks dishevelled, from Minerva's fane, 450 
With her hands bound behind — raising in vain 
Her beaming and her supplicating eyes 
To careless gods and the unpitying skies. 
Choroebus rushed to rescue her, the sight 
Was more than he could bear, or lover might ; 455 

And we all followed him, and then arose 
Our doubled slaughter both from friends and foes ; 
For, by our Argive shields and crests misled, 
The Trojans poured their vengeance on our head 
The whilst the Greeks assailed us — self-betrayed 460 
By open warfare and the rescued maid — 
Then Ajax and the two Atridse led 
Their rallied bands, and we o'erpowered bled. 

So fight the winds, so do they fight and jar, 
When Eurus lashes his Eoan car, 465 

When Notus and when Zephyrus engage ; 
Primaeval forests fall beneath their rage, 
Old Neptune rises from his ocean home, 
Lashes his trident and rides on the foam. 

And those dispersed in our nocturnal raid, 470 

They reappeared and further havoc made ; 



Book II. THE ^ENEIS. 45 

They knew their comrades' shields and helms again. 
Then sunk Choroebus on Minerva's fane, 
And stained the sacred altar with his blood. 

And Kipheus fell — Ripheus the great and good ; 475 
We thought him so — the Gods saw otherwise. 
Dymas and Hypanis, before our eyes 
Were slain by Trojan hands — neither wert thou, 
Pantheu ! saved by Phoebus, tho' thy brow 
Was bound with holy fillet, from the blow. 480 

O Jliacan ashes ! mighty pyre, 
Ye shades of comrades lost by sword and fire ; 
Ye I attest, that by no will of mine 
Did I survive that night of wrath divine ; 
If utter recklessness of life could give 485 

A claim to death, I should not now survive : 
But I was hurried thence, and borne along 
With tardy, old and wounded, in a throng — 
With Pelias wounded by Ulysses' spear, 
And Iphitus — to Priam's palace, where 490 

The war unbridled raged. 

The Greeks assailed 
The palace gate with shields in tortoise mailed ; 
Their scaling ladders topped the battlement, 
Then right hands grappling in the hard ascent, 495 

And their left hands alone bore spear and shield. 
There they beneath the Dardan onslaught reeled — 
The Dardans fought above as desperately : 
They hurled their turrets, battlements, from high 
Huge gilded beams, their father's pride of old ! — 500 

0, how my bosom bounded to behold 



46 THE ^JNBIS. Book II. 

The war alive, and how I rushed to aid 

Troy and King Priam 'gainst the Grecian raid. 

. There was a secret gallery which joined 

King Priam's palace with a house behind, 505 

By which, in happier days, Andromache 

Was wont to lead Astyanax to see 

His grandsire and co-mates ; I entered there 

And found the Trojans fighting in despair. 

A beacon tower also, whence the eye 510 

Could Troy, and camp, and fleet at once descry. 

Assembled there a Trojan band I found, 

Casting innocuous spears and darts to ground ; 

With force united, and with iron crow, 

We loosed the battlements, and hurled below 515 

The mighty ruins : and their thundering fall 

Spread widely round them death and burial. 

But vain that slaughter was, defence as vain, 

The foemen mounted by the heap of slain. 

Glittering in arms, foremost in hardihood, 520 

The vestibule assaulting, Pyrrhus stood. 
So glares the snake, what time it casts aside 
Its wintry slough, and with an upstart pride 
With poisons battened moves its haunts among, 
And vibrates 'gainst the sun its triple tongue. 525 

His sire's armiger and charioteer, 
Automedon and Periphas, fought there, 
And all the Scyrian youth with sword and brand : 
But he, the foremost, with the axe in hand, 
Hewed at the lintels ; but the brazen door, 53( 

And its firm hinges, long assaulting bore. 



Book II. THE ^ENEIS. 47 

A beam at length cut through, a breach was made, 

Through which, as through a window, was displayed 

All the internal palace : the atria thro' 

The regal private precincts gave to view, — 535 

Precincts of Priam and of Asian rule, 

And the guards stationed in the vestibule. 

And then the shrieks of women, shouts of foes, 
In mingled clamour to the clouds arose ; 
The frightened matrons rushed along the halls, 540 

Embracing doorposts, kissing native walls, 
Whilst Pyrrhus onwards, with his father's fire — 
Nor guards nor bolts availing 'gainst his ire — 
Battered the ram, succumbed the shivered door, 
Force carved the way, and on the threshold floor, 545 
And thro' and thro' the bursting Danaans bore. 
Not so unsparing is the torrent's course, 
When in its vortex and unbridled force 
And spreading devastation o'er the plain, 
It sweeps the flocks and herds and golden grain. 550 

I saw him, Neoptolemus, spread doom, — 
I saw the twain Atridse thro' the gloom, 
And Hecuba, and all her female train — 
Her hundred daughters : Priam by the fane — 
That fane whereon he sacrificed and stood, 555 

So soon to be polluted by his blood ; 
And hope of future progeny, around 
The fifty nuptial chambers : on the ground 
Gold and barbaric spoils, become the prey 
Of fire or Greek, whiche'er held chiefest sway. 560 



48 THE ^KElS. Book II. 

And now, methinks, you wish me to relate 
The doom of Priam. 

When his fallen state — 
His country's ruin, the victorious foe, 
The old man saw, he girded arms to go — 565 

Arms long unused, to combat and to die. 

Amidst those halls, 'neath the etherial sky, 
A venerable, honoured, laurel grew 
Incumbent on the shrine, it widely threw 
Over the household gods its sacred gloom : 570 

There Hecuba sought refuge midst the doom 
With all her daughters — like to doves that fly 
For refuge from the storm ; the altar nigh, 
And gods to friend, frightened they clustered round, 
And imaged gods with their embraces bound. 575 

From thence the queen beheld the ancient king 
O'erburdened with his armour, tottering, 
And passionately cried, ' What folly throws, 
O wretched husband ! thee amidst the foes ? 
'Tis not such aid or arms can now avail : 580 

Were my own Hector here, his arm would fail — 
His warlike arm would fail — this sanctuary 
Alone avails — to fall, or spared to be.' 
So Hecuba, as with a fond embrace 
She drew the old man to the holiest place. 585 

There young Polites, baffling Pyrrhus, fled, 
Thro' halls and galleries he wounded sped. 
The ardent Pyrrhus savagely pursued 
The son of Priam ; and where Priam stood 



Book II. THE ^NEIS. 49 

Grasped him at length, and struck the fatal blow, 590 
Before the father's eye the son fell low. 

Then Priam forth in woe and anger broke, 
With all the passion of his soul he spoke, — 
* Now may the gods — as the great gods regard 595 

Deeds of iniquity — may they reward 
Brutal and impious man, this deed now done, 
Before my eyes to immolate my son. 
Not he from whom thou braggest to be sprung, 
Achilles, did not perpetrate such wrong, 600 

He blushed with pity as he heard my prayer, 
And granted Hector's corpse for sepulchre, 

To me safe conduct ' 

Here the old man threw 
The forceless weapon, which just held unto 605 

The hostile shield, and dangled from the rim. 

Pyrrhus replied, ' Do thou relate to him, 
Be thou the messenger — tell thou my sire 
Pelides, of his son's lost fame and fire — 
Degenerate Neoptolemus ! — Now die.' 610 

He dragged the old man to the altar nigh, 
Sliding through his son's blood : his hoary hair 
Grasped with the left, the right hand slew him there. 

So Priam fell ; so was he doomed to die, 
Such was the lot ordained by destiny ; 615 

Asia's proud ruler, swaying regions won ; 
And now Troy burnt, and Pergamus undone, 
Abandoned on the shore his mighty frame 
Decapitated lies — mere dust, without a name. 



50 THE ^ENEIS. Book II. 

My arm was paralysed, I fought no more ; 620 

The image of my sire flitted o'er 
My sight and memory, as his contemporary 
Coeval king exhaled his life away : 
Bushed on my mind, as desolate, despoiled, 
My household and Creusa, and my child. 625 

I looked around, no comrade now stood near ; 
Some had been slain, some yielding to their fear 
Had leapt from high and perished thro' despair. 

Forth, then, I passed alone ; when passing by 

The fane of Vesta, in obscurity 630 

And hallowed gloom, crouchiDg in secret lair, 

Helen I saw : it was the fervid glare 

Of burning Troy, that conflagration bright 

Betrayed the Argive Helen to my sight. 

Erynnis dire both to Troy and Greece, 635 

Where should she safety seek or hope for peace ? 

By Greeks and Trojans equally abhorred, 

Baneful to us as to her injured lord. 

My bosom burned, ah ! now then to redress 

My country's wrong, and punish wickedness. 640 

What, shall she sail, shall she review the walls 

Of Sparta, and retread Mycenae's halls, — 

Shall she her home, her country view again, 

A queen attended by a Trojan train — 

Is Priam slain, and is burnt Troy no more, 645 

Does Dardan blood pollute the Dardan shore ? 

And shall she reign ? 'Tis an ignoble deed, 

To which nor fame nor glory can succeed ; 



Book II. THE ^INEIS. 51 

But yet not unapplauded shall it go, 

Vengeance shall hallow, justice own the blow, 650 

The manes of my murdered friends find ease, 

And ashes of the dead it will appease. 

As I advanced, swayed by revenge and wrath, 
A light celestial flashed across my path, 
And I beheld my mother : beamed her brow 655 

With light divine : thro' night it beamed below 
In all the bright effulgence which on high 
Pertains to her celestial majesty. 
My forward hand withheld by hers, she said, 
Accents, through roseate lips of beauty, shed, — 660 
* My son, what grief prompts this insanity ? 
Be calm, and leave the care of mine to me. 
Better would it become you now to save 
Helpless Anchises ; better, and more brave, 
To see if still Creusa be alive, 665 

And if thy son Ascanius yet survive : 
By flame surrounded, and by hostile swords ; 
They live — I cared for them — attend my words. 
The fault of Paris did not cause this war, 
Nor face of Tyndaris ; the gods who are 670 

Hostile to Troy, they now annihilate 
Her mighty riches, and fulfil her fate. 

Behold ! from off your eyes do I withdraw 
The mortal film ; gaze on, unchecked by awe. 
Fear not my precepts to obey, my son, 675 

Kemembering me, thy parent, so gaze on. 

Look to yon mass, where dust and vapour sweep 
Over its prostrate and chaotic heap, — 

E 2 



52 THE iENEIS. Book II. 

'Tis Neptune with the trident smites the wall, 
Foundations heave, and riven towers fall. 680 

Look to the Scsean gate, Saturnia there 
In armour clad, and with her right arm bare, 
She leads the rallied Greeks. Tritonia see, 
With Gorgon and her glory ; it is she 
Standing upon the citadel. 685 

The sire — 
The sire of heaven, himself sheds force and fire 
Into the Danaan hearts, and to destroy 
He sanctions every effort against Troy. 
Cease then, my son, and flee ; from fight forbear, 690 
But hie thee home, and I will guard you there.' 
She said, and vanished. 

Then I saw and knew 
The Dirse and the gods of heaven, who 
Warred against Troy ; then awestruck I beheld 695 

Ilium and Troy Neptunian hurled and felled, — 
As falls the mountain ash assailed by swains, 
When bites the axe bipennine, and when strains 
The ancient trunk, and leafy honours moan, 
And overcome it gives the final groan, 700 

And fallen drags a ruined heap of stone. 

So thro' the foe and flame I homeward sped ; 
Me, flame and foeman shunned, thus goddess led ! 
And so my father's threshold I attained 
The ancient halls : his presence, too, I gained ; 705 

But him, I fain would place in safety — bear 
To Ida's summit — he refused my care, 



Book II. THE ^NEIS. 53 

Refused to suffer exile, or survive 

His fallen country. ' Ye,' he said, ' who live 

With health robust, and blood of youthful flow, 710 

Save ye yourselves ! — 

My course is run, and Heaven wills it so. 

Already once have I beheld the fall 

Of captived Troy :^-perform my funeral. — 

Now on this dust perform my obsequies ; 715 

It is not difficult to die ! the enemy's, 

My own hand may suffice ; my sepulchre 

My ruined town ; too long I linger here, 

Too long I drag existence unforgiven — 

Struck, blasted by the bolts and flame of Heaven.' 720 

Fixed he remained ; nor could our common prayers, 
Ascanius, servants, my Creusa's tears, 
Avail to touch his soul : in vain our plea 
That he our best defence and shield would be ; 
That bluntly he denied, and spoke no more : 725 

Determined as his words the look he wore. 
Again I seized my arms, again elate 
To meet the foe, and find a warrior's fate. 
' For what, my sire, — what do you propose, 
That we should flee and leave you to the foes ; 730 

Was such a deed of wickedness e'er done ? 
If the Gods will, Troy shall not fall alone ; 
If Heaven in its wrath will nothing spare, 
The gate to death is wide : Pyrrhus is there, 
Unglutted yet with Priam eian gore, 735 

Who slew the son the father's eyes before, 
And sire upon the shrine. 



54 THE ^NEIS. Book II- 

Was it for this that you, 
goddess Mother, led me safely through 
The flames and foe surrounding, to find here, 740 

Upon my very hearth, a common bier, — 
My father and my son, Creusa, too, 
With blood commingling in the dust, to rue ? 
Arm, comrades, arm, 'tis our last day of light, 
Grant us, Heaven, in serried ranks to fight — 745 
To meet the Danaans, where, though vanquished, I 
Will fall in arms, nor unavenged will die.' 

I turned, but in my path Creusa lay, 
And held the young Iiilus in my way. 
' If you go forth to die, take us with you ; 750 

Desert us not, I supplicate you, who 
Art our defence and safety, husband, stay 
And guard your home, if hope in combat lay : 
But if you fall, what do you bequeath 
Your sire and son, — captivity and death ? ' 755 

She spoke, the whilst etherial brightness shed 
Innocuous fires above Iiilus' head. 
They played his hair amidst, and round his brow ; 
Unwitting of the prodigy, we threw 
Waters, with trembling haste, to quench the pyre 760 
Of sacred flame and immaterial fire. 
Father Anchises raised his hands on high, 
And with a joyful face addressed the sky : 

' Jupiter, Omnipotent, if ere 
Thy will immortal bend to mortal prayer, 765 

And if our piety claim aid divine, 
Father Jupiter ! confirm this sign ! ' 



Book II. THE ^NEIS. 55 

Or ere he finished, burst the sudden sound 

Of thunders on the left, and rattled round ; 

And with a blaze of light a meteor — ■ 770 

A globe of fire passed our sight before : 

It shot through night, it passed our house above, 

And sought and fell in the Idsean grove, 

Demonstrating our way ; sulphur and flame 

Still marked the course by which it went and came. 775 

'Twas then our vanquished ancestor confessed 

The holy will of Heaven manifest. 

He praised the Deity, and said, ' Lead on, 

Delay no more, I follow you, my son ; 

Gods of my country, deities of Troy, 780 

Protect our house, and protect this boy ; 

This augury is yours, and yours the power 

To reinstate us in some happier hour ; 

Meantime I bend to your pronounced decree : 

And now my son lead on, I go with thee.' 785 

The conflagration gathered, and the sound 
Approached, increased in vehemence around. 
'Now then,' I said, 'clear father, let my broad 
And stalwart shoulders bear your welcome load ; 
Whate'er henceforth betide of weal or woe, 790 

We share a common lot where'er we go. 
Creusa, wife, follow needfully — . 
The young lulus, you must on with me, 
And ye, my men, list ye to my commands : 
Beyond the walls the fane of Ceres stands — 795 

Old and deserted fane ! beside it nigh 
A tumulus, and cypress honoured by 



56 THE iENEIS. Book II. 

Our fathers grows : now thither how ye may, 

With speed repair, and now my men away.' 

' And father/ I continued, ' you must bear 800 

The holy gods ; the gods must be your care, 

For my touch is pollution, till I lave 

And purify from war in living wave.' 

I threw a lion's fell upon my back, 
Then I assumed my burden — in the track 805 

The young lulus tripped, beneath my wing, 
Two steps for one — Creusa following. 
And I who lately battled with the foe, 
Careless of all save bandying blow for blow, 
Now trembled at a passing breeze or sound, 810 

And for my charge peered anxiously around. 
We neared the portal, and the way seemed clear, 
When sounds of footsteps fell upon our ear. 
Anchises watchful cried, ' They come, my son, 
I see them, shields, and glittering helmets on ' 815 

What God malicious in that fatal hour 
Deprived my mind of all its reasoning power ? 
I turned and fled, bye-paths, bye-places thro', 
Wholly unmindful of Creusa, who — 
Whether she erred or strayed or faltered, or — 820 

I know not — but I never saw her more, 
Nor marked it then, nor heeded it, until 
I met my men at the appointed hill : 
All, save Creusa, safe — of all not one 
Was missing then, except my wife alone. 825 



Book II. THE ^NEIS. 57 

I cursed my fate, accused the Gods divine, — 

Troy's desolation then unequalled mine : 

I hid her rescued gods within a glen — 

Anchises and Ascanius to the men 

I then committed, and I hurried down, 830 

Begirt in armour, to the burning town, 

Callous to every hope and fear, to know 

The truth, if real it was — this latest blow. 

Troy I re-entered by the portal door 
Thro' which we issued, and the course obscure 835 

About it I retracked, with senses strained, 
Where only silence then and horror reigned : 
I sought my house — for haply there she strayed ; 
The Greeks had plundered it, and fire preyed, 840 

Lambent and lashing the nocturnal sky. 
By Priam's palace, I then sought the high 
Walls of the citadel ; I sought the fane, 
Unprivileged then, and sanctuary reign 
Of Juno ; where I found a chosen guard, 845 

Phoenix, and dire Ulysses, holding ward 
Over the plunder — all the wealth of Troy, 
From crypts and fanes, which fire could not destroy, — 
Tables from temples, bowls of solid gold, 
And Phrygian garments in huge bales uprolled, 850 
And boys and matrons a long line ranged round. 

I rushed from thence : thro' night I sent the sound 
Of my Creusa's name ; I had no dread 
Of foes or flames as thro' them both I sped ; 
But when she answered, and when magnified 855 

By death I saw her shade, and she replied, 



58 THE .ENEIS. Book II. 

Then my voice faltered, then blood left my veins, 

As she addressed me with endearing strains : 

' whence this love, this wantonness of grief, 

Husband, ever dear ? The supreme Chief 860 

Of gods and of Olympus disallows 

Creusa to accompany her spouse. 

For wanderings long and weary breadths of sea, 

Still separate Hesperia and thee. 

Where Lydian Tiber fertilising flows 865 

Thro' vales of promise, Fate on thee bestows 

Another royal wife and sovereignty. 

Weep not Creusa for — weep not for me ; 

My Dardan origin and wedded state, 

Daughter of Yenus, are inviolate : 870 

I am not doomed the victor to obey, 

Nor in captivity be led away : 

Cybele, mother of the gods, upon 

Mount Ida claims me, and my course is done ; 

Husband farewell, love and guard our son ! ' 875 

Thrice round her faultless form my arm I threw, 
And thrice the shade impassive flitted through, 
Like to a fleeting dream, or viewless air, 
In mist she vanished, and she left me there. 

The night was spent, and morning dawned when I 880 

Kejoined my train on Ida ; where my eye 

Marvelled at the great concourse ; where again 

Matrons, and men and boys, a hapless traki — 

With arms and hearts prepared to follow me 

To earth's extremest bounds beyond the sea. 885 



Book II. THE JENEIS. 59 

And Lucifer on Ida's peak arose ; 

By daylight, I glanced back upon my foes ; 

The Greeks held masterdom, and aid was none ; 

Troy's latest hope, her destiny had run. 890 

Then once more I resumed my sacred freight, 

And sought for safety upon Ida's height." 



Book III. THE ^NEIS. 61 



BOOK III. 

"Now that it pleased the wrathful gods on high 

To crush the seat of Asian sovereignty, 

Troy's towers with their bases to confound, 

And level lordly Ilium to the ground, — 

We called to mind the revelations given, 5 

And bore our exile as the doom of Heaven. 

Descending, then, from Ida's mountain-seat, 
Antandros refuged us ; we built a fleet ; 
Friends flocked to us ; and, with first summer-gales, 
Father Anchises ordered to hoist sails. 10 

We left our native shores — a course to run, 
Uncertain where to go, or what to shun ; 
Passed Troy's deserted port, and then reviewed 
Deserted plains, where lately she had stood ! 
And voyaged, exiled, over pathless seas, 15 

With household gods and greater deities. 

We steered for Thrace, the land of Mars, which then 
Lycurgus ruled, and trained its martial men ; 
With Troy associate in her happier hour, 
With blended worship, and allied their power. 20 

Thither, unblessed by fate, our course we lay ; 
And reared our earliest walls within a bay, 
And called them iEnos ; and besought the skies 
For favourable aid, by sacrifice ; 



62 THE iENEIS. Book III. 

Unto the Diongean Queen of Love, 25 

Unto the King of Gods — Olympic Jove, 
And unto all the exiled Gods, I bore, 
The bull was sacrificed upon the shore. 

A tumulus was there, where cornels made 
And myrtles with dense boughs a holy shade. 30 

I mounted it to gather wreaths of green 
To deck the altars of my mother Queen. 
I plucked a root ; but how to tell the awe 
With which the monstrous prodigy I saw — 
Black drops of blood descending to the ground, 35 

Dripping to earth ; — my horror was profound ! 
To hush my doubts, a second stem I tore ; 
Again polluting flowed the stream of gore. 

With troubled spirit, I to pray began 
The Nymphs sylvestrian of lands Getican, 40 

And Father Mars presiding over Thrace, 
To change the omen or the sign efface. 
Again I bent my knees to earth, and drew — 
Should I divulge or hide the omen new ? 
A voice arose from the earth's hollow womb : 45 

' ^Eneas, hold ! nor violate my tomb ; 
Your pious hands are steeped in kindred blood ; 
This sanguine tide does not flow from the wood ; 
Flee from this hostile avaricious strand ; 
I, Polydorus, bid you flee this land ! ' 50 

I answered not, for overcome with dread, 
My utterance failed me, and my arm fell dead. 
This Polydorus, Priam sent by stealth 
From Troy beleaguered, and with heaps of wealth, 



Book III. THE JENEIS. 63 

Despairing in his fates, to friendly Thrace, 55 

Where Polymnestor ruled, of kindred race ; 

Who, when he saw Atrides conqueror, 

And Troy succumb to fortune and to war, 

He broke all ties divine with hand profane, 

And for the gold was Polydorus slain. . 60 

What depths of crime and villany untold. 
Will man encounter not, for sordid gold ? 

Descending, to my father unconcealed, 

The hideous portent straightway I revealed. 

The chiefs, elected by the people, shared 65 

The horror, and with one accord declared 

To quit that shore accurst, and trust the seas 

And winds, than suffer portents like to these. 

Therefore to Polydorus rites were paid ; 
We reared the tumulus, and to his shade 70 

Altars were placed ; cerulean fillets wound, 
And the funereal cypress planted round. 
The Trojan matrons, with dishevelled hair, 
Performed accustomed rites ; libating there 
Warm milk from bowls and chalices of blood. 75 

We summoned then the spirit unenclued, 
And hailed him thrice, and closed the sepulchre. 
And then, so soon as Auster was on stir, 
We loosed the sails ; we wooed the welcome breeze, 
And left the land and shore for friendlier seas. 80 

An isle of beauty* stands in middle tide, 
iEgsean Neptune and his Nereid bride 

* Delos. 



64 THE ^NTEIS. Book III. 

Sacred unto : it floated on the seas, 

Till Delius fixed it 'midst the Cyclades. 

High Gyaros and Mycone between. * 85 

We hailed the shelter of its port serene, 

And town of Phoebus ; from whence running down — 

Wearing the fillets and the laurel crown — 

King Anius, Priest and King, appeared to meet 

Anchises, as a friend of old : they greet 90 

And join their hands in sacred amity. 

The old stone-structured temple fane was by ; 

I entered it, and prayed : ' Thymbrsee, hear ! 

The resting-place to Troy assigned — declare ! 

Escaped Achilles' wrath and Danaan hate, 95 

Where is our resting-place assigned by Fate ? 

Instruct us — guide us — let thine augury, 

holy Father, say where it must be.' 

Scarce was this spoken, ere the rushing sound 
Shook through the temple's threshold underground. 100 
Mount Cynthus trembled, and the moaning breeze 
Sighed through the vaulted crypts and laurel trees. 
We fell to earth, and heard these words in air : 
' Ye hardy Dardans — to that land repair 
From whence ye sprung. Your mother's fertile breast — 
Your ancient mother-land — will grant you rest ; [105 
The race iEneian and its sons alone 
Through long posterity shall fill the throne.' 

So Phoebus spoke, joy beamed in every eye, 
As all, unwitting, heard this destiny. 110 

And each one sought a comrade's face to learn 
What Phoebus meant, and where we must return. 



Book III. THE ^NEIS. 65 

Anchises then, racking his memory 
Amidst tradition, ' Hear me, Chiefs of Troy, 
From Crete our fathers came — Jove's native isle — 115 
Crete with her hundred cities, fertile soil, 
Where Ida towers ; Teucer, our ancestor, 
Sailed thence of old to the Khoetean shore ; 
Her walls and seat of empire he chose, 
Ere Ilium w r as, or Pergamus arose. 120 

Cybele, too, with Corybantine rites 
In the Idsean groves and vales delights ; 
When the yoked lions bear her from the skies, 
And silent awe involves her mysteries. 
The winds are fair : arise ! The god commands ! 125 
Arise and let us seek the Gnossian lands. 
'Tis not far hence ; with Jove to speed, our fleet 
Within three days shall moor on shores of Crete.' 

Anchises spoke, and sacrificing slew — 
Ewes, black and white, Hyems and Zephyr to ; 130 

A bull, Apollo beautiful, to thee ; 
A bull to Neptune, monarch of the sea. 

Fame bruited that, expelled his native seat, 
Idomeneus had left the shores of Crete ; 
And that her coasts were free, and void her reign. 135 
We left Ortygia, bounding o'er the main 
By Bacchant Naxos, by the sunny shore 
Of Paros, by Antiparos we bore — 
By green Donysus — threading the blue seas 
So thickly scattered with the Cyclades. 140 

Ardour unwonted prompted every hand, 
' For Crete,' they shouted, ' Crete, our fatherland ! ' 

F 



66 THE iENEIS. Book III. 

Fair blew the breezes ; billows bounding o'er, 
We reached the isle and old Curetan shore. 
I was full fain to land, and traced my town, 145 

Called it Pergamea : and the old renown 
Attaching to its name pleased my men well. 
They hurried them, and chose them spots to dwell— 
Domestic homes and citadel ; ashore 
We hauled the ships from sea, and lands explore. 150 
1 Promoting marriages, allotting lands, 
And promulgating laws. When on our bands 
From fetid and contaminated air 
Fell pestilence : the deadly atmosphere 
Blasting the corn and trees ; and Sirius 155 

Scorching the arid plain hung over us 
Refusing sustenance : man welcomed death 
From famine and from pestilential breath. 

Again Anchises bade me to set sail, 
And reconsult the Ortygian Oracle ; 160 

Apollo to propitiate with prayer, 
And supplicate the godhead to declare 
What was our fate, and what our errors were. 

'Twas midnight deep, and sleep her mantle cast 

Over the world ; when o'er me, slumbering, passed 165 

The Phrygian gods — partners in misery, 

Exiles from desolated Troy, o'er me 

All manifested in the silvery flood 

Of the pure light of the full moon, they stood ; 

And, chasing tumult from my heart, addressed :— 170 

' We come, pursuant to the high behest 



Book III. THE 2ENEIS. 67 

Of great Apollo and Ortygian fane, — 

We, your companions on the troubled main, 

'Tis ours to share your wanderings and wars, 

To mould your empire, and unto the stars 175 

To raise your offspring. Destined to be great, 

Shrink not from trials pre-ordained by fate ; 

But now flee hence — not this the promised seat, 

Apollo never indicated Crete. 

Hesperia seek ; so was it called of old 180 

In Grecian style, land rich, and warriors bold, 

(Enotrians dwell there ; since by later fame 

Italia called, from its brave leader's name ; 

That is thy fatherland : thence Dardanus, — 

Whence Dardans sprung, and thence Iasius 185 

Descended are ; that to Anchises tell, 

And bid that troubled old man mark it well ; 

Seek Corytum, seek its Ausonian plain ; 

For Jove denies you a Dictsean reign ! ' 

I did not slumber, but entranced I knew 190 

Each face familiar : I rose bathed in dew, 
Their sacred presence filled with awe and fear ; 
Invoking Heaven above, I poured forth prayer, 
On every altar casting incense pure 
And offerings also pure : which duty o'er, 195 

I sought my father and divulged the whole. 
The truth flashed out directly on his soul — 
His self-deceit touching our native place, 
The double parentage and mingled race. 
' 1 see it all ; away, my son,' he cried, 200 

' All tins — ay, all — Cassandra prophesied : 

f 2 



68 THE ^NEIS. Book III. 

And oft Hesperia, oft Italia, broke 

Forth from her lips as she, divining, spoke. 

Alas ! who ever heeded what she sung, 

Or who believed we from Hesperia sprung ? 205 

Follow these counsels by Apollo given, 

Urge Ilium's fortunes, with our trust on Heaven.' 

Again upon the waters ; and again 
Nought met our gaze save skies and boundless main ; 
When gathered o'er our heads the wintry rack 210 

Beneath the gathering cloud the wave grew black ; 
The breakers rolled, and dashed the foaming spray, 
Cloud wrapped the sky and humid night the day, 
And lightnings flashed and thunders rumbled round ; 
And driven from our course o'er the profound, .215 

E'en Palinurus yielded and confessed 
He knew not night from clay, nor east from west. 
Three starless nights, and through three rayless days 
We struggled on ; the fourth morn to our gaze 
In cloudless unobscured effulgence broke, 220 

Eevealing land and hospitable smoke. 
Down dropped the sails ; we seized upon the oars, 
And made through brine and foam for welcome shores. 

Ionian Isles— the Strophades — they were : 
Celseno dwells with the winged Harpies there ; 225 

Chased from the halls Arcadian, and forbad 
Pheneian feasts, which they polluted had. 
Accursed beings ; more accursed than whom, 
Styx owns no monster in her hateful womb. 
Birds' bodies with a virgin's face they bear, 230 

Fetid and ravenous their stomachs are ; 



Book III. THE ^NEIS. 69 

Their hands are talon' d — faces pale and thin — 
With famine's tooth : 

The port we entered in, 
And saw fat herds of oxen straying free, 
And goats untended browsing the rich lea. 235 

We rushed on them with sword ; then we invoked 
The Gods and Jupiter — the altars smoked ; 
We spread our couches in the quiet bay, 
And feasting on the choicest as we lay, 
The troubled air resounded, and a cloud 240 

Of the winged Harpies, with their clamours loud, 
Swooped down upon our meats ; the filthy hordes 
With fetid claws and stench defiled the boards. 

We sought a cliff remote, and in its shade 
Again we roasted meats, and altars made ; 245 

Again the foe invaded our retreat — 
Again polluting boards and rending meat : 
Swooping from secret haunts and open skies, 
They came with fetid claws and piercing cries, 
Contaminating all. 

With arms to chase 250 

The next approaches of the cursed race, 
We then prepared ; we hid beneath the sward 
Our shields and swords, and when the coming horde 
Swooped on the shores again with sounding clang ; 
Misenus sounded, the brass signal rang, 255 

When we uprose the battle to essay 
Upon the bodies of these birds of prey. 
But vain our efforts were ; steel weapons fell 
On feathers and on frames invulnerable. 



70 THE JBNEIS. Book III. 

Again they gnawed the meats and foul'd the food, 260 
And then escaped unharmed o'er flood and wood. 
But one remained ; Celaeno from a rock — 
Ill-omened prophetess — the silence broke : ' 
9t e Sons of Laomedon, and do ye dare 
Assault the Harpies, like our oxen there, 265 

And hope, unscathed, to drive them from their reign ? 
Hear then the words, nor think I speak in vain, 
Which Jove foretold to Phoebus — he to me — 
And I, the Chief of Furies, tell to thee. 

Ye seek Italia, and ye shall find 270 

The port Italian — for the winds are kind ; 
But ere ye build your walls, ye must atone 
By famine for the wrongs which ye have done, 
And gnaw and eat the boards off which ye fed ;' 
And on broad pinions to the woods she fled. 275 

Torpid with very fear and doubt we stood ; 
Doubt sunk our spirits — fear congealed our blood — 
Martial no longer — now we would appease 
These birds obscene, or Stygian goddesses. 
Not so Anchises, with clasped hands, my sire 280 

Addressed his prayers to Heaven and Godheads nigher 
With promised sacrifice : ' Avert,' he said, 
' Ye Gods of Heaven, these curses from our head ! 
Protect us, ye Powers, on whom we trust ! ' 
Then did he bid us from those shores to thrust ; 285 

We cut the cables and we left the shore, 
And Notus bulged the sails. At sea once more. 
Our conduct was the pilot and the breeze. 
Wooded Zacynthus loomed across the seas, 



Book III. THE ^ENEIS. 71 

Dulichium, Sanios, craggy Neritus 290 

We passed — but fled the rocks of Ithacus — 

We cursed Ulysses and Laertian reign. 

Leucadia's cliff next beamed across the main — 

Topped by Apollo's fane,* the seaman's dread. 

And wearied, thence to a small port we sped 295 

And dropped the anchors with the prows to sea ; 

So almost against hope on land were we, 

And paid oUr vows to Jupiter with prayer ; 

And then, with oil anointed and limbs bare, 

On Actian shores, the Iliacan games 300 

Were celebrated, with the like acclaims 

As in pahestras of their ruined Troy. 

Our perils and escapes now themes of joy, 

They boasted of the perils they had run, 

And towns Argolican escaped, each one. 305 

The circling sun had now fulfilled the year, 
And waves by Aquilon infested we're ; 
The hollow brazen shield and armour worn 
By the great Abas — on a trophy borne 
I planted there, and carved this verse thereon : 310 

' These arms from victor Greeks, iEneas won ! ' 
Which done, once more we launched upon the main 
And ploughed the brine with brawny arms again. 
Phaeacia's towers aerial we passed by ; 
W^e hugged Epiran shores and mountains high, 315 

Entered a port Chaonian, scaled the hill 
Of high Buthrotus, where — incredible ! — 

* Mariners were cast from thence. 



72 THE ^ENEIS. Book III. 

A rumour readied us, which soon credence gain'd, 

That Helenus Priamides there reigned 

Wed to Andromache, the throne upon 320 

Of Neoptolemus, Pelides' son. 

Amazed I heard the rumour ; through my breast 

Eushed strong desire to hear and learn the rest, 

Therefore I left the port, and sought the town. 

Within a grove, where Sirnois ran down, 325 

Where a great feast with obsequies were paid, 
Andromache invoked her Hector's shade : 
Appeased his shade upon an empty tomb 
And double altars — type of double doom. 
As I approached, I marked Andromache ; 330 

She, with a wonder-stricken eye, saw me 
Clad in my Trojan arms : pale, pale with dread 
Her cheek and quivering lip, she spoke and said : 
' Speak, goddess-born ! is the form true, you bear ; 
Or art thou messenger to upper air — 335 

Then where is Hector — where is Hector's shade ? ' 
Echoed the grove the lamentation made. 
Scarcely could I with faltering voice reply : 
' I live, royal lady ! — it is I. 

But ah ! what lot, what hap hath fallen thee, 340 

Widow of Hector, great Andromache ? 
Doth Hector still or Pyrrhus claim thee now ? ' 

Then sunk her voice, then fell her saddened brow : 
6 only happy Priameian maid,* 
Whose life, a grateful country's ransom paid 345 

* Polyxena. 



Book III. THE ^NEIS. 73 

A pure atoning victim to the foe ; 

Not forced our infamy to undergo, 

Cast in a lot — the haughty victor's slave. 

We sailed from fallen Troy across the wave ; 

We bore the youthful victor's love and scorn ; 350 

We bonds of house iEacidan have borne, 

Who, when Hermione became his own 

In hyinenaeals, with the Spartan throne, 

Abandoned me : and me, abandoned, gave 

To Helenus of Troy, my fellow-slave. 355 

And then, Orestes slew him : maddened by 

The Furies and his love and this defy, 

Orestes slew him, as he stood beside 

His country's altars, for the ravished bride. 

And by the death of Neoptolemus 360 

This portion of his realms devolved on us ; 

Chaonia called, from Chaon, Priam's son : 

Our Pergamus is built on mountain yon ! 

And Iliacan citadel. 

But now 
goddess-born ! what winds, what fates allow 365 

Your presence here? tell me, and relate 
What God led thee unconscious to our state, 
And — doth the young Ascanius still live ? 
Does he draw vital breath — does he survive 
The horrors of that night ? how does he bear 370 

The loss Creusa of, his mother dear ! 
Does ancient virtue beam upon his brow — 
Like to his uncle Hector — is he now ? 
She spoke, repressing sorrows in their flow, 
And dashing tear-drops in her joy and woe. 375 



74 THE ^NEIS. Book III. 

Then Helenus Prianiides appeared 
Attended by his guard ; the grove he neared, 
And recognised and welcomed me with joy. 
Progressing, I beheld a second Troy 
And mimic Pergamus— there Xanthus raced ; 380 

Another Scsean gate, and I embraced 
Its portal posts as I the threshold passed. 
The King received us in a palace vast, 
And welcomed us, and then we, as of old, 
Ate meat, and Bacchus drank from cups of gold. 385 

So sped another and another day. 

Bland breezes wooed us to resume the way— 

I sought, and thus addressed the Eoyal Seer : 

4 O Trojan-born ! the Gods' interpreter, 

To whom are Phceban oracles revealed 390 

From tripod, Clarian bays, and starry field, 

And voice and flight of birds — our lot declare, 

And what our future woes and labours are ; 

For hitherto, in turn, each deity 

Has promised empire with prosperity, 395 

Except Celseno — she, our Harpy foe 

Denouncing wrath, with prodigies and woe 

And rabid famine : teach us how to shun 

Celseno's curse, and in what course to run.' 

Then royal Helenus the victims chose, 400 

Implored the will of Heaven, and arose ; 
Unbound the fillets from bis brows, and trod 
The threshold, with me trembling, of his God. 
Then opened his divining lips, and said : 
' goddess-born ! thy lot is plainly read. 405 



Book III. THE ^NEIS. 75 

Fate and the King of Gods have ratified 

The auspices which hitherto thee guide. 

Thy path is very manifest ; but still 

Chequered, as mortal path, with good and ill. 

But of the perils to be overcome, 410 

Ere you may win Ausonia, there are some 

I may divulge : some few I may reveal — ■ 

Fate and Saturnian Juno — some conceal. 

Be undeceived ; your realm Italian lies 
Far distant hence ; discard your reveries 415 

Of seizing on the first port you may gain ; 
Long labours intervene, by land and main ; 
Trinacria's billows and Ausonian waves, 
And Lake Infernal, and the sea which laves 
Circe's iEsean Isle ; or ere you foil 420 

Your adverse fates, and find release from toil. 

Now, mark my words, and store them in your mind ; 
When on the margin of the flood you find 
A mighty sow beneath the ilex shade, 
White, and recumbent ; and about her laid 425 

Her thirty milk-white farrow draining her — 
That is the promised land thy Fates confer. 
Celseno's curse of famine, do not fear ; 
Fate will annul it : Phoebus will be near. 
And flee the land Italian opposite 430 

To these our shores : there Grecians dwell in might. 
There have the Locrians built Karicium's walls, 
Idomeneus, Salentinum installs, 
And Philoctetes in Petilia reigns, 
And sorrows for his Melibcean plains. 4S5 



78 THE iENEIS. Book III. 

His gifts of gold and ivory, and mass 

Of solid silver, Dodonsean brass ; 

And arms of Neoptolernus — the coat 495 

Of triple mail of gold — the helm of note 

Of crested cone ; horses and ample stores 

Of warlike arms, and mariners and oars. 

Meantime Anchises bade unloose the sails, 
Nor lose the conduct of the favouring gales. 500 

To him departing spoke Apollo's priest : 
' Anchises, in the care of Heaven blest, 
As blest in thine espousals — who hast been 
Beloved by Venus — and who twice hast seen 
Kuin of Pergamus, and its fall survive : 505 

The land Ausonian where thou wilt arrive 
Is not the promised shore — do not land there. 
Altho' across these seas behoves to steer, 
Your promised land Ausonian is afar, 
Apollo will disclose it and unbar ; 510 

The breezes summon, why should I delay 
You and your pious son upon your way.' 

Nor with less grief did fair Andromache 
Present her gifts of price : and laden she 
Offered her pictured vests of golden thread, 515 

And Phrygian chlamys — as she fondly said, 
Not wishing in her gifts to be outdone, 
Addressing young Ascanius — i My son, 
Accept from me these labours of my hands. 520 

May you, Ascanius, in far distant lands 
And after years, recall to memory 
Hector's surviving wife, Andromache. 



Book III. THE ^NEIS. 79 

bright resemblance of my son — I view 
My lost Astyanax again in you : 

Such was his face and bearing, such would be 525 

His equal years, had he been spared to me.' 

And from my eyes the tears unbidden fell, 
As slowly parting I pronounced farewell : 
'Farewell my friends, whose fortunes finish here, 
Nor daily doubts nor nightly rising care, 530 

Nor lands Ausonian which your grasp elude, 
Nor wearying trackless path o'er ocean rude. 
Here in repose and rest, do ye enjoy 
Your mimic Xanthus, your rebuilded Troy, 
With happy auspices and free from foes — 535 

And I if Fate accord me hoped repose, 
If upon Tybris and its promised plain 

1 may establish my wrecked state again ; 
Then will I call to mind our brotherhood, 

Our common ancestor and common blood, 540 

And be it ours and our, descendants' pains, 
To link Epiran and Hesperian reigns. 

Again we sailed — the mount Ceraunia rose 

Across the way our passage to oppose, 

Marking the point of crossing on the way. 545 

The sun rolled down, the mountain peaks grew grey, 

And disappeared : the lots were cast, and those 

By lot exempt on solid earth repose. 

But ere one half the hours of night were sped, 

The hardy Palinurus left his bed, 550 

Explored the breezes whispering on high, 

And constellations of the silent sky ; 



80 THE JEWELS. Book III. 

Arcturus, Hyades, Triones twain, 

Orion belted with his golden chain — 

But all serene the heavens and the air : 555 

Then blazed upon the poop the signal clear, 

We rose and sailed. 

And when Aurora's light 
Dimmed stars eclipsed — uprose upon our sight 
Blue level land : Achates spying first, 
Shouted Italia : followed by a burst 560 

Of joy and clamour, echoing the sound. 
Achates rose, a bowl he filled, and bound 
With festal wreath, and the great gods hailed he 
High mounted on the poop : 

' Gods of the land and sea, 
Controlling storms, speed us on our way.' 565 

The favouring breezes blew — we neared a bay 
With, on a hill behind, Minerva's fane ; 
Down dropped the sails — we lashed to shore again. 
That port is barred from the Eoan wave, 
Against a barrier rock the waters rave, 570 

Itself lies hidden, rock-embayed it lies, 
And in the port the temple's roofs arise. 
Here the first omen happened — coursers stood — 
Four snowy coursers cropping flowery food 
On the broad plain : ' hospitable shore !' 575 

Anchises cried, i What bodes thy omen ? — war ! 
The steed is armed for fight ; but it is true 
He bears the yoke and draws the chariot too : 
I trust in peace,' he said. 



Book III. THE ^ENEIS. 81 

We adored 
The arm-resounding Pallas — and implored 580 

Her aid benignant, whose divinity 
Was first to greet us from the fane on high. 
And rites to Argive Juno then we paid. 
Then first our heads the Phrygian mantles shade, 
Remembering Helenus : and the rites o'er 585 

We hoisted sail and left the doubtful shore, 
The realm of Greeks : and passed Tarentum's bay, 
Deep in the gulf the towers Herculean lay, 
If fame speak truly : then across the main 
Greeted our eyes Juno's Lacinian fane 590 

And Caulon's towers, and Scylacseum feared 
For frequent wrecks. Then o'er the wave appeared 
Trinacrian iEtna : then we heard afar 
Roaring of waters, elemental war 

Of winds and waves, the very breakers rolled 595 

Impure with yellow sand. ' Hold, comrades, hold, 
Charybdis 'tis, by Helenus foretold ! ' 
Father Anchises cried ; ' these are the cloven shores 
And rugged rocks — now, comrades, to your oars, 
And snatch us forth from fate.' To hear, obey, 600 

We seized the oars and bore aloof away, 
The gale assisting : Palinurus led, 
His creaking prow the breakers buffeted, 
We followed as he led ; our galleys rose 
And plunged again — three times the deeps disclose 605 
Unto our eyes their rocks and echoing caves, 
And over canopied our heads with waves. 

G 



82 THE .2ENEIS. Book III. 

Then sunk the sun and lulled the evening air, 

We made the shore unwitting where we were ; 

The shores Cyclopean : found a port secure, 610 

Sheltered and vast — but iEtna soaring o'er 

Thundered down ruin. A murky canopy 

Of issuing smoke arising blots the sky, 

Thro' the black turmoil globes of flame aspire, 

And liquid masses of candescent fire, 615 

Stone liquified by heat, and fragments vast 

Of shattered rock — its riven entrails — cast 

With groans explosive from its fiery womb. . 

Tradition states, Enceladus o'ercome, 

And half-consumed by fire supernal, lies 620 

Vanquished and prisoned there : he strives to rise 

When iEtna from the base to summit rends, 

And the immortal fire, freed, ascends, 

Trinacria trembling. 

Sheltered by forest trees 625 

We passed the night, frighted by prodigies, 
Unwitting of their cause : the hours lagged on, 
No kindly star, no beam from heaven shone, 
But mist untimely the whole vault obscured 
And its pale wanderer. When Eous soared, 630 

And bright Aurora chased the clews of night, 
A mortal being rushed upon our sight, 
Tattered in garb, emaciated, wan — 
Scarce could we recognise the form of man — 
Extending suppliant hands. 

Filthy, unshorn, 635 

His tattered garb together tagged with thorn, 






Book III. THE ^NEIS. 83 

Yet evidently Greek, and truly one 

Who fought 'gainst Troy ere Troy her course had run. 

And he discerning then our Trojan arms 

And Dardan vestments, viewed us with alarms, 640 

'Twas but a moment's pause, he hurried near 

And passionately cried — ' By vital air, 

By stars and Gods of heaven, I implore, 

Trojans bear me hence, I ask no more, 

Bear me but hence. 'Tis true a Greek am I, 645 

And fought 'gainst Troy, in arms your enemy. 

If that offence be pardonless, then cast 

Me living in yon main, in waters vast— 

So that I perish humanly 'twill please 

Me humanly to die.' Then he embraced my knees, 650 

And clung embracing them : Anchises broke 

The pause with plighted hand. Again he spoke, 

Now reassured, and answered our demands 

As to his home and country, race and lands. 

' I am an Ithacan, and in the train 655 

Of the ill-starred Ulysses crossed the main, 

And Achemenides my name. My sire 

Was Adamastus ; 'twas not martial fire, 

But poverty that caused him send his boy — 

Would it had not been so — to wars of Troy. 660 

Fleeing the Cyclops' den — thoughtless thro' fear 

My comrades fled away and left me here, 

Bewildered in recesses of the den. 

Clotted with blood, clotted with blood of men, 

How dreadful, vast, and dark its ample floor ; 665 

And he its monster lord begrimed with gore. 

g 2 



84 THE ^NEIS. Book III. 

Gods of Heaven ! that curse of earth annul, 
Odious to sight, to hearing horrible, 
Feeding on human flesh and drinking blood. 

1 saw him, I, as horror-struck I stood, 670 
Seize upon comrades two, and dash their brains 
Against the rock— so that their blood distains 

The threshold now — and then with bloody maw, 

Supinely stretched the while and champing jaw — 

Not unavenged : unused Ulysses is 675 

To suffer scathe to followers of his. 

Glutted and drunken the brute lay supine, 

And floods of undigested flesh and wine 

Sleeping he vomited— the whilst the Gods we prayed, 

And lots were cast, nor was revenge delayed ; 680 

We stood around and simultaneously 

Struck, and forced round the weapon in his eye, 

His only eye, which in his forehead lay 

Big as a Grecian shield — or as yon orb of day. 

Thus — thus did we avenge our comrades slain. 685 

But, heedless men, away, on to the main, 

As Polyphemus huge and vast as he, 

A hundred Cyclop shepherds wander free 

About this island and these shores, and fold 

Their flocks in mountains high and caverned hold. 690 

The moon has three times filled her horns, whilst I 

With beasts of prey lived thus promiscuously, 

Berries and roots my only food and stay ; 

Skulking in their deserted lairs I lay, 

And trembled as I heard the passing feet 695 

Of the fell Cyclops : then I saw your fleet ; 



Book III. THE JENEIS. 85 

Little recked I whether of foe or friend, 
I only knew my stay here at an end ; 
I only knew death better than to draw 
Prolonged existence here.' 

He ceased, and lo ! we saw 700 
Him, Polyphemus ; on a brow he stood, 
And followed the known pathway to the flood : 
A monster truly — huge, deformed, and blind — 
With pine tree in his grasp he groped to find 
The trodden way, he walked his flock among 705 

His only solace — save the pipe which hung 
Down from his neck. 

He reached the wave and washed 
His gushing eye-ball — but his teeth he gnashed 
With agony : he strode into the main, 
Not half immersed his giant bulk. Again 710 

We sought to flee : the friendly G-reek we pray 
Us to accompany — and stole away, 
Cut every cord that moored the ships to shore, 
And made for sea. He heard the sounding oar, 
Followed the sound, swooping each giant limb, 715 

Till the deep wave Ionian baffled him. 
Then rose his horrid cry — the smitten waves 
Trembled beneath the sound ; and ^Etna's caves 
And shores Italian echoed to his cries. 
The race Cyclopian heard : from fastnesses 720 

They rushed and lined the shore. A multitude 
Terrific-eyed th' iEtnsean brothers stood, 
High as in sacred groves the holy trees, 
The oaks of Jove and Dian's cypresses. 



86 THE ^NEIS. Book III. 

Precipitate by fear, we hoisted sail, 725 

And took advantage of the present gale ; 
And, mindless then of Helenus, we bore 
For Scylla and Charybdis ; for the shore, 
Where on each hand death threats with equal fate. 
Then we perceived our error, ere too late, 730 

For from the narrow straits Peloran, rose 
The friendly Boreas, sent us, to oppose. 
Bounding o'er waters we retracked the way, 
Pantagia's mouths by, and Megarean bay, 
And Tapsan promontory. Achemenides 735 

Named in their order these localities, 
Which with Ulysses he had passed before — 
Marshy Plemmyrium, and isle which bore 
Of old the name, Ortygia : island where 
We landed and made sacrifice ; for there — 740 

Elis contemned, Alpheus, Grecians say 
Beneath the sea pursued his hidden way ; 
And to thy fountain, Arethusa, led 
Mingles his wave in thy Siculian bed. 

Those local powers adored, we sailed again, 745 

And past Helorus and its flooded plain, 
And bounding on with a still prosperous breeze, 
Bounded Pachynus into Libyan seas ; 
Saw Camarina's fate-defended town 
And fields Geloan ; Gela gushing down 750 

Confers the name upon the fruitful plain. 
And next for coursers famed, loomed o'er the main 
High Agragas, with its huge length of wall. 
Next by Selinus and its palm-trees tall, 



Book III. THE JENEIS. 87 

And Lilybsean hidden reefs, unto 755 

Drepanum's port upon its coast untrue. 

And here by travel overcome, and worn 

By woes and labours he for us had borne, 

We lost Anchises — danger in and care 

My guide and counsellor. We lost you there, 760 

O noblest Father ! long, long spared to us, 

In dangers imminent. 

How was't that Helenus, 
How was it that Celaeno, when she cursed 
Predicting woe to come, forgot the worst 
And last of woes ? Our voyage ended there, 765 

Save when benignant gods impelled us here." 

iEneas ceased — attentive all had sate, 

Whilst he, the will of Heaven and doom of fate, 

Their perils and their wanderings disclosed : 

Then on his couch reclining he reposed. 770 



Book IV. THE ^NEIS. 89 



BOOK IV. 

Not so the Queen, not so the hapless Queen ; 

She fed within her breast a flame unseen — 

Love in her wounded bosom fed his pyre, 

And scorched the veins with immaterial fire, 

And banished rest and to delirious thought 5 

His deeds heroic, birth celestial, brought. 

Or ere Aurora chased nocturnal dews, 
She by her sister's bed the theme pursues. 
" My sister Anna, dreams disturb my rest, 
Dreams of our unknown but our godlike guest, 10 

His martial bearing, courage, fortitude, 
Sprung from high heaven he is by Heaven endued. 
I doubt it not — could mortal man endure 
Such woe, calamity, and wasting war. 

But that I am resolved — immutably, 15 

Never again to bind the nuptial tie, 
Since death my first love and first hopes deceived ; 
And that I hate — so cruelly bereaved — 
Nuptials and nuptial rites, he might, I own, 
Have feelings raised I ever should bemoan. 20 

For, dear sister — since Sicheeus died, 
Unhappy husband ! and foul fratricide 
Stained our domestic hearth, this man alone 
(Love, thine unconquered influence I own) 



90 THE iENEIS. Book IV. 

Has swayed my mood or fixed my wandering soul. 25 

But Father ! Jove ! let thy thunders roll, 

Doom me to Erebus and deepest night, 

Smite me to pallid shades from heaven's light, 

Before I fail in female modesty, 

Or its eternal principles deny : 30 

Ah, no, the troth and maiden faith I gave 

He still shall hold — they slumber in his grave." 

And her tears fell whilst Anna thus replied, 

" sister, dearer than the morning's pride, 

Dost thou still pass the silent hours in woe 35 

Nor bridal blessings, joys maternal know ; 

And dost thou, by such vain denials, trust 

To soothe the shade and please sepulchred dust ? 

Well, be it so ; still is thy bitter grief 

All unsubdued ; still doth each warlike chief, 40 

Tyrian or Libyan, woo and sue in vain ; 

Still doth Iarbas smart 'neath thy disdain ; 

And wilt thou yet spontaneous love oppose, 

Or dost thou still despise surrounding foes ? 

Behold our realm — girt in its narrow bounds 45 

Betwixt Numidian and Getulian grounds, 

Kaces unbridled and unmatched in war ; 

And for retreat, do not the deserts bar, 

Or Syrtes with inhospitable coast, 

Or yet beyond, Barcsea threatening most. 50 

Or dost thou never dream of war from Tyre, 

Or rage fraternal — Sister ! be sure 



Book IV. THE -ENEIS. 91 

Auspicious Gods and favouring Juno sent 

To our relief this Trojan armament ; 

So that, with them allied, thou may'st sustain 55 

The unfirin glory of thy town and reign ; 

From whence what empire and what future fame, 

For Trojan arms and for our Punic name. 

Be first with prayer the deities addressed, 

Then seek occasion to detain the guest, 60 

Until Orion and the winter rise, 

And waves oppose him and tempestuous skies." 

. How soon, alas ! may sophistry inflame 

The mind that loves — regardless when of fame, 

Doubt yields to hope and passion chases shame. 65 

They entered then the precincts to prepare, 

The holy rites with sacrifice aod prayer. 

Victims, selected as ordained, they slay 

To Ceres— fount of laws, the God of day, 

Father Lyaeus, and to Heaven's queen, 70 

Who hallows and who binds the nuptial chain, 

With chalice in her hand fair Dido stood, 

The victim libating in anxious mood — 

The milk-white cow — and circling midst the fanes, 

Renewed the offerings and fed the flames ; 75 

Or viewed the entrails with abstracted eyes, 

Interpreting the bleeding sacrifice. 

priestly ignorance and science vain ! 
What power o'er love hath vow or holy fane ? 
The insidious passion grapples to the soul 80 

And reigns despotic — mocking such control. 



92 THE iENEIS. Book IY. 

Unhappy Dido burns and wanders through 

The city raving — so the wounded doe, 

Struck by the Cretan shepherd's random shaft, 

Bursts thro' the glade and o'er the mountain path, 85 

Passes the woods, the floods, the boundless heath, 

Yet carries in her side the feathered death. 

So Dido fares — she leads the Trojan round 

The ramparts circle and the city's bound, 

Her empire and Sidonian wealth displays, 90 

And falters in the speech which she essays ; 

And when the day is done and the feast o'er, 

Again she asks to hear the Trojan war, 

And woes encountered since — entranced she hears, 

And madly lists with fascinated ears : 95 

And when the moon uprears her silvery crest, 

And circling stars call mortals unto rest, 

Lingering in the deserted hall she strays, 

And communes with her love in reveries ; 

Or oft Ascanius to her heart she strains, 100 

Him, image of his sire, she detains 

In the fond hope to quell her bosom's pains. 

Meantime the port and towers delayed to rise, 
Whose promised bulwarks mated with the skies ; 
No youthful bands there exercising were, 105 

No muniments betokened guardian care. 

Indignantly, the cherished wife of Jove 

Beheld her royal votaress sunk in love. 

Then sought she Cythereia and addressed ; 

" And have celestials twain one dame oppressed 110 



Book IV. THE iENEIS. 93 

By force and fraud? what honour have they won, 

What ample spoil — you and your wayward son ! 

I know the cause ; 'tis Carthage — loved by me, 

Her future empire and supremacy. 

But shall our jealous rivalry ne'er cease ? 115 

Let Hyinenseals and a lasting peace 

End it for aye — 'tis done what you desired, 

The doting Queen with quenchless flame is fired ; 

Now grant the Phrygian husband, I'll endow 

The bride, and Tyrian enrpire I bestow ; 120 

In common let their future incense rise, 

And own us both as guardian Deities." 

And Venus, who discerned the secret lure 
To win the tide of empire from her shore, 
Keplied — " Goddess — the expediency 125 

Who can deny, of proffered peace with thee. 
But will this be permitted by above? 
Will Fate allow it — or Imperial Jove 
Confound the Tyrian and Trojan claim 
In common treaties and a common name ? 130 

His wife, to ask it is permitted thee : 
If he assent, command and I obey." 
" That be my task," Saturnia replied, 
" And now to tell you how I will provide. 
When Titan to to-morrow's dawn gives birth, 135 

iEneas and the love-sick Queen go forth 
To draw the coverts of the mountain side. 
From shelter far whilst in the wilds they ride, 
Whilst the horn sounds and whilst the toils they ply, 
Darkness and storm shall gather in the sky, 140 



94 THE ^ENEIS. Book IV. 

Thunder and deluge break upon the plain, 

And scattered horse and horseman flee amain. 

One cavern shall receive the royal pair, 

The Trojan Chief and Queen — I will be there — 

If you consent, and in connubial bands 145 

Will join their hearts, Hymen shall join their hands." 

Nodding assent, glad Cythereia smiled 
To see her dreaded rival self-beguiled. 

Aurora meantime rose above the main ; 

The chosen youth then issued to the plain, 150 

With toils and hunting spears, and crowds surround 

The horse Massylian and the deep-mouthed hound. 

They all attend — the Queen appears not yet, 

Her ambling jennet champs his foaming bit, 

Vain of his trappings : Tyrian nobles wait — 155 

And now she comes in all the pomp of state ; 

Her mantle's fold Sidonian art displayed, 

Her vest with gold and purple was arrayed, 

Golden her quiver — wreaths of gold confined 

Her knotted tresses struggling in the wind. 160 

lulus there his Phrygian troop commands, 
And there iEneas joined the assembled bands. 

As when Apollo leaves the Lycian coast, 
Or banks of foaming Xanthus, white in frost ; 
When to his native Delos he repairs, 165 

Eenews the dances and installs the choirs 
Of congregated nations, and presides 
O'er the assembled crowds of votaries ; 



Book IV. • THE ^SNEIS. 95 

With shafts resounding he on Cynthus stands, 

And in his flowing locks with golden bands, 170 

Wreathes Daphne : so iEneas trod, 

Nothing inferior to the Delian God. 

And now they mountain fastnesses invade, 

They pierce the thickets and they thread the glade ; 

The startled goat sprung to his rocks again, 175 

The frighted deer scud o'er the dusty plain ; 

In the mid vales Ascanius spurred his steed, 

Or o'er the turfy lawns provoked his speed, 

Hoping a tawny lion for his foe, 

Or grisly boar descending there — when lo ! 180 

The lightning flashed, the rumbling thunder spread, 

The rattling hailstorm burst above their head ; 

Down, down the mountain torrents gushed amain, 

The scattered horsemen fled across the plain, 

Alike for shelter man and beast rushed prest, 185 

The Tyrian noble and the Trojan guest. 

One cave received the Trojan Chief and Queen — 
Tellus and nuptial Juno gave the sign — 
The conscious ether flashed attesting fires, 
Wood nymphs around supplied the nuptial choirs — 190 
From that sad day, first cause of death and woe, 
No more suspense or fear did Dido know, 
No longer dread the trumpet tongue of Fame, 
But called it marriage, brazening her shame. 

Then, thro' the mighty cities Libyan 195 

Fame, hateful pest, her swift career began ; 



96 THE ^NEIS. Book IV. 

Fame, still the speediest of human woes, 
Strengthens progressing and progressing grows. 
How mean at first — how soon with pinions spread, 
She treads on earth and clouds involve her head. 200 

Of Coeus and Enceladus, 'tis sung, 
Last sister scion of the race she sprung — 
That Terra, in revenge against the sky, 
Produced her, the last Titan progeny. 
Monstrous and huge and dread, with pinions dight 205 
To speed her swift career and baneful flight ; 
Her body plumed, and every plume beneath 
With lurking eyes and ears and vocal breath ; 
No pleasing sleep declines upon those eyes, 
She shrieks 'midst darkness and by night she flies," 210 
Watchful by day some city's height she gains, 
Affrights its people and her post maintains, 
Greedy alike to gather and retail, 
Scandal and malice, as truths to detail. 
Thence facts and fictions she proclaims aloud, 215 

And joys to see them swallowed by the crowd. 

The filthy power now exaggerates, 
And, as she speeds her baneful flight, relates 
iEneas — Trojan born — a wanderer, 
Imperial Dido weds, to share with her 220 

The throne of Carthage ; that her royal trust 
And regal state were sacrificed to lust. 

Straightway to King Iarbas she repaired, 
And fired his anger and his passions seared. 
He sprung from Ammon, by a nymph on plains 225 

Of Garamantis, to his sire complains, 



Book IV. THE ^NEIS. 97 

To him a hundred altars flamed abroad, 

A hundred sacred sentries kept the ward 

And fed eternal fires ; fat was the ground 

With votive blood, and wreaths the altars bound. 230 

Amidst his country's deities he stood, 
Spread forth his hands and thus in bitterest mood 
Of wounded pride his Father he addressed : 
" Jove, omnipotent — if when they feast, 
The Moorish nations own thy Deity, 235 

And libate ruddy wine in floods to thee, 
Why dost thou suffer this ? or are, sire, ' 
Are thy dread lightnings mere impassive fire, 
And are thy thunders vibrating around, 
Quelling our fearful souls, as empty sound ? 240 

An exiled woman wanders to our strand, 
We give her refuge and we sell her land ; 
She builds a little town, we grant her fields, 
She owns our laws, obedience to them yields, 
And now, my hand rejected with disdain, 245 

Associates ^Eneas in her reign — 
And, with effeminate and chambering crew, 
Mseonian mitraed — locks distilling clew — 
This second Paris carries it, whilst we 
Vainly invoke thy careless Deity." 250 

The Thunderer heard the suppliant complain, 
With hands displayed upon his holy fane ; 
Then cast his gaze o'er Carthage, marking there, 
Absorbed in lawless love, the guilty pair. 



98 THE ^NEIS. Book IV. 

Cyllenius he dismissed with his command, 255 . 

" Arise my son — call Zephyr — take your wand ; 

Straightway to Tyrian Carthage make repair, 

Ingloriously the Trojan lingers there, 

Oblivious to his future destiny 

And promised Empire — tell him this from me : 260 

That not for this did Venus interpose, 

And twice redeem his life from Grecian foes ; 

That Fate assigns him higher destinies, 

From Teucrian blood the Italian name to raise, 

Extended rule o'er all the world to bear, 265 

Of mighty Empire and resistless war. 

That if his soul be dead to boons like these, 

If love of arms succumb to love of ease, 

Bid him beware the sire wrong not the son, 

Nor stay Ascanius from the Roman throne — 270 

What hope fallacious binds him in her bands, 

Hiding Ausonian and Lavinian lands ? 

Go, bid him sail ! my messenger away !" 

The ready power defers not to obey ; 
Golden talaria to his feet he binds, 275 

Whose rapid flight outstrips the rapid winds ; 
Assumes the rod, which on the dreary coasts 
Of Orcus quells the disembodied ghosts, 
Emancipating those, compelling these 
To deeper depths, profounder miseries ; 280 

Slumber which gives and slumber which denies, 
And to immortal life uncloses mortal eyes. 
Chasing the clouds, with these he urged his flight 
To mighty Atlas propping heaven's height, 



Book IV. THE ^NEIS. 99 

Whose head the winds and justling storm surround, 285 

Whose pine-clad sides with pitchy cloud are bound ; 

Icy whose head, whose shoulders snow-clad hide, 

From whence impetuous torrents gush and glide. 

There first Cyllenius paused in his career, 

On confines of Numidia ; and there 290 

As darts the headlong osprey for his food, 

Precipitate or skims the finny flood, 

He stooped resistless, to the Libyan shore, 

Deserting his maternal ancestor.* 

Amidst the Libyan huts JEneas sate, 295 

Devising citadels and streets of state ; 

His jasper-studded sword beside him hung, 

And o'er his shoulders negligently flung — 

Proof of the Queen's munificence and skill, 

Her work and gift — the robe imperial. 300 

Confronting him, Cyllenius began, 
" Alas ! what do you here, uxorious man ! 
You construct Carthage — build another's town, 
Blind to your fates — neglectful of your own. 
From high Olympus, and from him I come, 305 

Who to the world pronounces weal or doom, 
By him commissioned, I the mandate bear : 
What blind infatuation holds you here? 
If your base soul be dead to glory's name, 
If love of ease exceed the love of fame, 310 

Beware — mar not the fortunes of your son : 
Ausonian Empire and the Roman throne 



Atlas, father of Maia. 



H 2 



100 THE ^ENEIS. Book IV. 

To hini and to the Julian race, are due," 
He said, and vanished in etherial blue. 

iEneas stricken stood in silent fear, 315 

His utterance failed him — bristling rose his hair ; 

Unnerved and overpowered by the command, 

He turns to flee from this seductive land. 

But how ? The Tynan Queen, how may he dare 

Meet her reproaches and her passion bear, 320 

Or how their mutual misery reveal, 

Or how the inevitable lot conceal ? 

Thus by conflicting doubt and passion tossed, 

He called the chosen -leaders of the host, — 

Mnestheus, Sergestus, and Cloanthus bold, — 325 

And bade them rig the fleet and store each hold 

For flight, not openly, but pretexts feign. 

And for himself, to soothe the pang of pain, 

He trusts the while, some chance may intervene 

To break the doom unto the cherished Queen ; 330 

And she submissively own Heaven's decree. 

Gladly they hurried to prepare for sea. 

But Dido first (so quick are lovers' eyes), 
The fraud detected and the deep disguise, 
In weal solicitous — whilst impious Fame 335 

Brought tidings fraught with terror and with shame ; 
Then wild of mood she roamed the city through, 
So Thyas raves when on Cithseron's brow, 
She heads the orgies, shakes her ivied rod, 
Shouts with the Bacchante crew and owns her midnight 
God. 340 



Book IV. THE ^NEIS. 101 

" By flight clandestine, base ungrateful man ! 

Would you depart ?" — e'en so her plaint began ; 

" By flight clandestine, in despite of faith 

Of love — of my inevitable death ? 

What now, whilst wintry winds and seas prevail, 345 

Now will you loose vour vessels to the 2;ale, 

For foreign shores and homes unknown ? Ah ! no, 

Not Troy could tempt, if ancient Troy stood now, 

Such doubtful voyage o'er the billowy sea. 

Cruel ! is't I whom — is it I — you flee ? 350 

Oh, by these unrestricted tears that flow, 
By rites connubial — hymeneal vow ; 
If ever I have well deserved — if ere 
My deep affection unto you was dear, 
Now end this anguish — quit this base design, 355 

And still uphold my falling house and line. 
For you surrounding nations are my foes, 
Numidian kings and Libyan powers oppose, 
My Tyrians grieve, and wheresoe'er my name 
Is bruited, it is blighted, too, by Fame. 360 

Thus must I fall and die — refuged guest ! 
Husband no more — this name befits you best. 
Or must I live to see Pygmalion's hands 
Level my walls and harrying my lands, 
Or live Iarbas of, the captive prize ? 365 

At least — or ere you sail, some holier ties, 
Some young iEneas, joyous in my hall, 
By whom his father's face I might recall, 
Should be bequeathed, nor leave me to a fate 
Abandoned utterly and desolate." 370 



102 THE ^NEIS. Book IV. 

He, steadfastly, Jove's admonitions held, 
And with stern resolution love repelled, 
As he replied — " I never can deny, 

Queen, thy worth or generosity ; 

And ever, whilst my spirit rules this frame, 375 

Will gratefully pronounce Elissa's name. 

Then hear me a few words. Clandestine flight, 

Ne'er did I meditate by day or night ; 

But neither can I own a husband's name, 

Or the high duties of such sacred claim ; 380 

For were I only free to choose my lot, 

If Heaven and partial Fate refused it not, 

Choice would impel me to the Trojan shore, 

Her towers to rebuild — her fanes restore. 

But now Grynsean oracles command, 385 

And Lycian Phoebus points, Italia's land ; 

There is our country, there our destined home. 

And have not you, Phoenician, hither come, 

Rise not your towers upon this Libyan shore, 

What seek the Trojans from Ausonia more ? 390 

Oft as the night o'er earth casts sable shades, 

So oft in dreams, my father's ghost upbraids ; 

Oft as I view Ascanius, I own 

My vacillation and his destined throne. 

And now, attest it truth ! sent from above, 395 

Cyllenius bore the dread reproof of Jove ; 

The God I saw, too manifest, in air, 

His condemnation vibrates on my ear ; 

Cease then, nor rack our spirits by reply : 

1 do not seek Italia willingly." 400 



Book IV. THE ^SNEIS. 103 

Silent, with erring gaze the whilst he spoke, 
She stood — till forth indignant accents broke : 

" Nor goddess-born nor sprung of Dardan blood, 
But tigresses supplied thine early food, 
Nursling of Caucasus — 'twas he endued 405 

Thy flinty nature and unyielding mood. 

Why, why disguise my fate ! what ills appear 
That he will offer and that I must bear. 
Does he relent — do signs of pity start 
The sigh or tear of a relenting heart. 410 

To hope is futile — now ye Powers above, 
Thou Juno see'st it — thou Satuniian Jove, 
Heaven is unjust — on nought may faith rely : 
Needy and wrecked, and destitute, 'twas I 
His fleet collected, fed his famished train, 415 

And raised the pirate, partner in my reign. 
And now the Lycian oracle, and now 
The Delian deity oppose his vow, 
And now from Jove himself doth Hermes bear 
Th' unholy mandate thro' yon azure air ; 420 

Truly 'tis worthy matter of debate 
For godlike counsels and impartial fate ! 

I hold thee not — nor contradict thy words. 
Go, try thro' winds what Latium affords, 
Go, seek the promised reign o'er faithless seas, 425 

Go, tempt thy fate — for if the Deities 
Yet justly rule, abandoned on the sea, 
Dido shalt thou invoke repentantly ; 
And she, invoked, appear begirt with flame ; 
For when cold death shall part her soul and frame, 430 



104 THE MSE18. Book IV. 

Her angry ghost shall ever haunt thy path, 

Until thou quail beneath Elissa's wrath. 

And Fame the tidings shall bear down below, 

And her sad spirit be relieved in woe." 

Pale, she abruptly ceased, and turned to fly, 435 

He speechless stood attempting to reply ; 

The ready maidens caught her sinking head, 

And laid their mistress on her marble bed. 

So when the Prince beheld his purpose fail, 

Nor reason soothe, nor piety avail, 440 

Groaning and wrestling with his inward love, 

He turned to execute the will of Jove. 

Meantime the energetic Trojans haste, 

Collecting oars and masts from forest waste, 

Studious of flight — their vessels resin ed o'er, 445 

Float on the sea or lie along the shore. 

Coming and going them might you behold, 

As when perceptful of the coming cold 

The frugal emmets pile their wintry grain, 

The sable restless brethren scour the plain, 450 

Some thro' the narrow pathways drag their prey, 

Some heave behind and others clear the way, 

And some direct and some the lags chastise, 

Whilst all pursue the common enterprise. 

But royal Dido — how shall words impart 455 

The throbbings of thy desolated heart, 
When from thy citadel that fervent roar 
Of tongues thou heard'st, and viewd'st that crowded 
shore. 



Book IV. THE ^NEIS. 105 

Unholy Love, whose bosom dost thou spare, 

What counsels profferest unto despair ? 460 

Again to trust to tears — again to try 

The power of prayer and of humility — 

Wretched expedients, doomed by thee and fate. 

" Anna, thou seest how they congregate, 

All is prepared and the wind wooing breathes, 465 

The joyful sailors fix the votive wreaths. 

Nay, sister, nay — my boding mind before 
Was warned of this, and this it can endure. 

Yet, Anna, in one last essay aid me ; 
The Trojan still esteems — confides in thee, 470 

Thou best can'st influence his breast ; then go 
And supplicate for me, this haughty foe. 
I never leagued at Aulis to destroy, 
No fleet of mine was federal 'gainst Troy, 
No deed of mine disturbs Anchises' dust. 475 

W T hence then — ask him, whence is his distrust, 
Why doth he shun me, wherefore doth deny 
An interview, and whither doth he fly ? 
Then urge a lover's poor and last request, 
For kindlier skies more favouring winds to rest. 480 
The nuptials he denies, I do not strain, 
Nor urge obstructions to his Latin reign ; 
I ask a little time, to calm my woe 
And teach my humbled mind to bear this blow ; 
And add, dear sister, add — what soon must be— 485 
My death will supervene to set him free." 
Such was the message weeping Anna bore, 
Vainly reiterated, o'er and o'er ; 



106 THE ^ENEIS. Book IV. 

No human sounds nor human woes can move, 

When fates oppose and ears are closed by Jove. 490 

So when the mountain blasts invade the dak, 

That forest king sustains the weight unbroke, 

Headlong they drive and bellowing amain, 

Strip off his foliage and strew the plain ; 

Firmly he stands — for as his boughs ascend, 495 

So do his roots to Tartarus descend. 

So, even so, the hero's heart assailed 

By Anna's passion and her tears had failed, 

But that the mind deep rooted more availed. 

Affrighted by these ills and destiny, 500 

Imperial Dido loathed the light of day ; 

The wish for death the more and more prevailed, 

As in her sight her votive offerings failed. 

She saw, her offerings on the fragrant pyre, 

The pure libations blackening expire ; 505 

And, to herself alone revealed, the flood 

Of wine libated curdled into blood. 

Appalling facts — in her desponding mind, 

To silence and oblivion consigned. 

Besides a marble temple to her lord 510 

Stood in the court, religiously adored, 

With festal wreaths and snowy fillets wound ; 

There in the dead of night the boding sound — 

Words, in her husband's voice, she thought she heard — 

What time the screeching and funereal bird, 515 

Emerging from the gloom, prolongs its cries — 

These and repeated threatening prophecies 



Book IV. THE ^NEIS. 107 

Quell with predictions dire. Sleep and rest 

Ruthless iEneas chases from her breast ; 

In dreams he frights her, as alone she strays 520 

Deserted, through interminable ways, 

Or over boundless plains casts her affrighted gaze. 

80 Pentheus fares by the Eumenides, 

Bewildered with twin suns and double Thebes ; 

So on the Grecian stage Orestes flies, 525 

Still on his dreadful mother turns his eyes, 

The Furies bar the way and urge his destinies : 

So Dido, smitten irremediably, 

Then meditates the time and means to die ; 

And, well dissembling, greets her sister now — 530 

Joy in her eye, hope beaming on her brow — 

" My dearest sister, now the way I see 

Him to reclaim, or else myself to free ; 

Beneath the setting sun — in ocean far — 

In the extreme of Ethiopia, 535 

Where mighty Atlas on his shoulders bears 

The heavens above and sways the starry spheres, — 

The Priestess once I knew, who there presides 

Over the fane of the Hesperides ; 

She feeds its guardian Dragon, and she quells 540 

His jealous vigilance with opiate spells ; 

She can absolve from woe, inflict with cares, 

Arrest the course of streams and stars and spheres ; 

Summoned by her, at midnight, spirits rise ; 

She shakes the earth, and thunders in the skies. 545 



108 THE ^NEIS. Book IV. 

Sister, by thy dear head I swear that I 

Unwillingly resort to sorcery. 

But Anna, build me secretly a pyre 

Within the palace-courts, for sacred fire ; 

And thither carry each memorial — 550 

Arms by 'the traitor left upon the wall ; 

Take every garment, take the nuptial bed 

On which I fell, unrighteously misled — 

Abolish, as the Priestess doth ordain, 

Memorials of the man on holy fane." 555 

She ceased, and ceasing, her brow pallid grew ; 
But Anna deemed such rites to sorrow due ; 
Such, when Sichseus died, were duly paid ; 
Such and no more she thought them, so obeyed. 

Of pine and oak, in open air to fire, 560 

Within the palace-courts they build the pyre ; 

With fatal meaning, this the Queen arrays 

With wreaths funereal, as for obsequies. 

On it she places each memorial, while 

The sword and image crown the fatal pile. 565 

'Midst altars blazing round, the Priestess there 

Entered inspired, with dishevelled hair ; 

And thrice invoked the hundred Gods below, 

Chaos and Erebus — thrice Dian so, 570 

As triple Hecate, whilst waters flow 

Feigned from Avernus ; and rank simples reaped 

With brazen sickles, at new moon, besteeped 

In black envenomed gum : the magic mole 

Wrenched from the forehead of a new-born foal, 575 



Book IV. THE ^NEIS. 109 

Banning the mother's love. And there is seen 
With salted leaven in her palms, the Queen : 
Amidst the altars trails her pall unbound, 
One naked foot, unsanclled, treads the ground — 
Subdued — prepared to die — she supplicates 580 

The Gods and Planets privy to her fates ; 
And if some Deity, more just, allays 
Love unrequited, unto him she prays. 

It was the night, and weary mortals close 

Their eyes in sleep, their spirits in repose. 585 

All 'neath the skies to its benignance yields ; 

The tenants of the woods, the floods, the fields ; 

The plain and grove are silent as the flight 

Of circling stars ; beneath the placid night, 

In slumber lapped, the passions cease to jar, 590 

And for a while man's heart forgets its war. 

All, save Phoenissa's — her o'erlaboured soul 

Yields not to its beneficent control ; 

Passions and miseries alike oppress, 

Nor night nor silence brings forgetfulness, 595 

But thoughts tumultuous pass, as love and wrath 

Wrestle her heart within, and prompt its path : — 

" Alas ! what now, what course may I pursue — 

Shall I to my rejected suitors sue, 

And suppliant woo Numidian chiefs again, 600 

Whose former suits I treated with disdain ? 

Or shall I join the Trojan fleet and flee, 

And bow me to his owned authority ? 



110 THE ^ENEIS. Book IV. 

Alas, what then ? Say, do his actions prove 

Indicative of gratitude or love ! 605 

Ah, nay ! in hirn and in the race I see, 

Kevived, Laomedontian perjury. 

Whilst, whilst if he received me, I should go 

At best an exile with my bitter foe. 

Or would my Tyrian bands that braved the main, 610 

Fleeing from Sidon, tempt the seas again ? 

Then come, gentle Death, secure relief, 

And with the dagger arbitrate my grief ! 

O sister, sister ! pitying my woe, 

Thy counsels have betrayed me to my foe : 615 

In sacred widowhood I might have lived — 

Wild beasts do so — and honour have derived ; 

But I have broken all the vows I made 

Uj)on thy corpse — Sichseus — sacred shade." 

Whilst she, reproving and reproved, bewept 620 

Her woes unbearable, iEneas slept ; 
In the high poop, for flight prepared, he lay 
In full security, awaiting day. 
Once more the Messenger celestial pressed 
With friendly admonition on his rest ; 625 

'Twas Hermes — all, the voice, the pliant limb, 
The auburn hair, all manifested him. 
" Sleep'st thou, goddess-born ! " he said ; " dost sleep ? 
Nor heed the perils that around thee sweep ? 
Madman, art deaf, whilst Zephyrus doth call ? 630 

She, now despairing, will adventure all ; 



Book IY. THE zEXEIS. Ill 

Passion and anger sway her very soul, 

And the base lust of vengeance bursts control. 

Up. and away! Away, whilst yet 'tis night, 

For, if thou dalliest, Aurora's light 635 

Will show the flash of many a hostile prow, 

And kindled firebrands that slumber now. 

Woman, inconstant, mutable, — again 

Mistrust I say, and trust the trustier main." 

So Hermes said, and mingled with the night. 640 

iEneas, starting awestruck with affright, 
x^rose, and his confederates addressed : 
" Up comrades, and cast off pernicious rest, 
Handle your oars, and hoist the bulging sails ; 
Again the will of Heaven a God reveals — 645 

Again, a second time, a Deity 
Commands to cut the stays and put to sea. 
Whate'er thou art our footsteps that attends, — 
Whoe'er thou art that wandering Troy befriends, — 
On thy protecting influence we rely, 650 

holy Power, we hail and we obey ! " 

He spoke, and speaking drew his fulgent sword 
And cut the twisted cord : they pass the word, 
One ardour seizes all — their weapons soar ; 
Down fall the trenchant blades, they part from shore. 655 
Their serried keels the subject ocean laves, 
Dashes the foam, and flash phosphoric waves. 

Her rosy beams of light Aurora shed, 
Eising resplendently from Tithon's bed ; 



112 THE ^ENEIS. Book IV. 

When watchful Dido, with the dawning ray, 660 

Marked the deserted port, and, far away, 

The bellied sails of the receding fleet. 

Her comely breast she passionately beat, 

She tore the tresses of her golden hair : — 

" Jupiter ! " she uttered in despair, 665 

" The traitor mocks me, and illudes my hands ; 

Where are my subjects, where my gallant bands ? 

Now up and follow : launch the galleys now, 

Kindle the brands — confront them prow to prow. 

Where am I, where ? What dotage sways my mind ! 670 

Now cruel Fate inflicts the lot assigned. 

Unhappy Dido ! this you should have done, 

Or ere you gave your hand — betrayed your throne. 

Is this his faith ? Is this his piety, 

Bearing his country's gods across the sea — 675 

Bearing his father through the flames of Troy ? 

that I might him limb by limb destroy ! 

Put Trojans and Ascanius to the sword, 

And serve the son — food on the father's board ! 

The chance of war is doubtful ; be it so. 680 

About to perish, do I tremble now ? 

Why did I hesitate, in self-defence, 

To chase with fire and sword these exiles hence — 

The sire, the son, the race to extirpate ; 

Nor shun myself to meet impending fate ? 685 

Sol ! aye, beholding every mortal woe : 
Juno ! protectress of the marriage vow : 



Book IV. THE iENEIS. 113 

Hecate ! at midnight hailed at parting roads : 

Avenging Furies ! and benignant Gods : 

Hear graciously Elissa's dying breath — 690 

Accept her prayer — avenge her timeless death. 

If 't be accorded unto Destiny, 

If 't be Jove's irreversible decree 

That this unholy man reach Latium's shore — 

Grant him such destiny and grant no more. 695 

never, never, let him taste repose ; 

Wars, — harrass him with fraud and martial foes ; 

Torn from lulus, fleeing o'er the plain, 

Let him behold his scattered Trojans slain ; 

Then let him sue for aid and purchase peace, 700 

Upon conditions ignoble and base ; 

Then let him fall untimely and remain 

Abandoned and unburied on the plain. 

With life fast ebbing do I breathe this prayer, 
And ye, my Tyrians, hate eternal swear — 705 

O to my dust this grateful boon accord, 
Eternal hatred to this Dardan horde ; 
In treaty or alliance ne'er combine. 
Soon an avenger riseth from our line, 
To chase with fire and sword these vagrant hinds ; 710 
Now and hereafter, oft as time befriends, 
Oppose ye — shore to shore, and sea to sea, 
And sword to sword thro' all posterity." 

She ceased, and mused abstractedly how best, 
From life her struggling soul might be released ; 715 
Then beckoned Barce — nurse in days of yore 
Unto Sichaeus — hers on her native shore 

i 



114 THE iENEIS.. Book IV. 

Eeposed in death : — " Go, dearest nurse, and bring 

My sister Anna — bid her from the spring 

Of living waters lustrated to lead 720 

Hither the bleating victims doomed to bleed 

In cleansing sacrifice ; and, nurse, do thou 

The sacred fillet bind upon thy brow ; 

For I to Stygian Jove make sacrifice ; 

To quell my passion, buy my bosom peace, 725 

The Dardan's image must consume in flame." 

She spoke, and urged departure on the dame. 

And now bewildered with her own emprize, 

With quivering lip, flushed cheek and glaring eyes, 

The hue of death, prophetic, on her brow, 230 

The Queen rushed wildly to the court below, 

As wildly scaled the pyre — the sword unsheathed, 

For other uses given and bequeathed ; 

But when the Trojan vestments met her eye, 

And nuptial couch, her tears fell silently. 235 

Cast on that couch, her mournful accents flowed ; 

" Memorials dear, whilst Jove and Fate allowed, 

Now that my mighty shade descends below, 

Keceive my spirit and absolve my woe ; 

The course assigned by Fortune is mine own, 740 

My walls have risen, I have built my town, 

My husband I avenged, chastised his foe — 

Blessed, ay too blessed, had my course ended so !"- — 

Then on the pillow sinking her sad face, — 

" that we ne'er had known this Trojan race ! 745 



Book IV. THE ^ENEIS. 115 

And fall I unavenged. — Yes, die I must, 
I long to be inanimate in dust, 
Whilst yet the Dardan may behold in t air 
These flames — eternal omens of despair." 

She spoke — her head declined — her maiden train 750 

Saw gore her hands and reeking steel distain. 

Their shrieks arose, and rumour rushing down 

Revels and riots in the troubled town, 

Where lamentations, groans, and female cries 

Shake the firm earth and vibrate in the skies ; 755 

Not otherwise or less than if the fire 

Of foes victorious levelled ancient Tyre 

Or lordly Carthage — levelling abodes 

Of men in ruin with the fanes of Gods. 

And sister Anna now the tidings hears ; 760 

She beats her bosom and its beauty sears, 

Bursts thro' the crowd — ejaculates the name 

Of her sweet sister in a wild acclaim — 

" how hast thou betrayed me — have I reared, 

Have I funereal flames and pyre prepared ; 765 

By my own hands am I made desolate, 

Refused communion in my sister's fate ; 

Oh had'st thou called me, would I not have come, 

And shared the hour of bitterness and doom ? 

And now the pious acts that I have done, 770 

Have left me desolate on earth alone. 

O sister, the Sidonian rule is o'er, 

Extinct our race and Carthage is no more. 

i 2 



116 THE ^ENEIS. Book IV. 

Water, bring water, haply yet beneath. 
The heaving breast errs unexhaled breath. 775 

let me catch it, let me lave the wound ;" 
She said, and scaled the pyre's utmost round, 
Folded her dying sister to her breast, 
Stanching the flowing gore-drops with her vest. 

She strove to cast her glazing gaze around, 780 

Bubbled the failing stream beneath the wound : 
She strove to rear her frame, to raise her head, 
But sunk again exhausted on the bed : 
She to the azure turned her wandering sight, 
And closed her aching eyes against the light. 785 

But now the Queen of Heaven beheld with grief 
The long and painful strife, and sent relief ; 
High from Olympus Iris winged her way, 
To free the struggling spirit from the clay. 
For since she fell by neither fate nor crime, 790 

But fatal chance, ere her appointed time, 
Her head not yet Proserpina had doomed 
To Stygian Orcus — neither had resumed 
The fatal topmost lock of golden hair. 
So blooming Iris, thro' the azure air 795 

Beflecting from above a thousand dyes 
Arched o'er her head, " Commissioned from the skies, 
To Dis — this sacred pledge I consecrate, 
Thee and thy mortal frame I separate." 
She said, her hand then cut the golden hair, 800 

And vital heat escaped — life fled to air. 



Book V. THE ^NEIS. 117 



BOOK Y. 

^Eneas meantime the sure way held on, 

Propelled o'er the dark sea by Aquilon. 

Brooding he sate and marked with lingering gaze 

The glaring canopy and ruddy blaze ; 

The cause thereof unknown, but too well known 5 

What love will do and what despair hath done, 

And woman's wrath ; and sad the thoughts that pressed 

With dismal augury the Trojan's breast ; 

Till bounding onwards, nought arrested eyes 

Save the expanse of ocean and of skies : 10 

And then it was, by night and winter sped, 

The storm cerulean gathered o'er their head. 

The Helmsman Palinurus looked from high ; 

" Heu ! heu ! " he cried, " what gathering rack flits by ; 

Father Neptune, what may it portend ?" 15 

Then to the lusty oars he bids them bend, 

And veering windward, said, " If Jupiter, 

Magnanimous iEneas ! should confer 

Italia by his promise, words of his 

Would not prevail against a sky like this : 20 

The winds are changed and rattle from the west, 

The air is into pitchy cloud compressed, 

'Tis vain and very bootless striving so ; 

Let us where Fortune seems to call us, go. 

If rightly noted I observed the skies, 25 

Not far from hence the port Sicanian lies 



118 THE ^ENEIS. Book V. 

Of Eryx, joined to thee by kindred's ties." 
The good iEneas said, " E'en so methought 

We strove with winds and waves, progressing nought. 

Turn if thou wilt ; nor is there land more dear 30 

On which I rather would repose, than where 

Dardan Acestes rules ; and on whose breast 

The honoured ashes of my Father rest." 

He spoke, they turned the prows and Zephyrs bland 

Straightway propelled the vessels to known land. 35 
High from the apex of his mountain home, 

The glad Acestes marked the vessels come ; 

With spear in hand descending there he ran, 

Rough in his hide of bear Libystidan.* 

A Trojan mother him conceived, by the 40 

Great river god Crimisus. Mindful he 

Of parentage of old, greets and supplies 

His former guests with rustic luxuries. 

When morning dawned from oriental gates 

And chased the stars, iEneas convocates 45 

His comrades all ; and them addressing thus — 

Mounted the summit of the tumulus : 

" Dardanidse ! of high celestial race, 

This day the year fulfils its circled space, 

Since that this dust divine ensepulchred, 50 

Of my dear Father was by us interred — 

And now that day recurs, by Heaven's decree, 

Solemn and sacred evermore to me, — 

* Spanish. Lake Libystinus on the Guadalquiver. Bochart Sacra, 
i. c. 604. 



Book V. THE ^NEIS. 119 

On Syrtes wandering, or Getulian plain, 

Or captive upon seas Argolic ta'en, 55 

Or Mycenaean towns ; this annual rite 

And solemn exequies to expedite, 

And upon holy fanes his gifts to spread. 

For hither unpremeditated led — 

Not accidentally, I deem, we stand 60 

Led by the hand of Heaven to this land 

All hallowed by Anchises' holy dust. 

Up, therefore, and discharge the sacred trust ; 

Ask favouring winds to waft us to the shore, 

Whereon, with fanes, Anchises to adore. 65 

And for these annual rites, supplying wants, * 

Two beeves to every ship Acestes grants ; 

Therefore prepare the feast ; invoking call 

Penates Trojan, Gods Sicilian all. 

Moreover when the ninth Aurora dawns, 70 

And with pure ray if she bedeck the lawns, 

Games will we celebrate. The galley fleet, 

Foot-racers, and bold athletes, shall compete ; 

To wing the shaft, to hurl the darted spear, 

Or in the lists with csestus crude to dare. 75 

All may compete : due prizes I award 

Victors unto ; now let your tongues applaud 

And bind your brows with boughs :" iEneas said, 

And with maternal myrtle veiled his head ; 

And Elymus and old Acestes wound, 80 

And young xlscanius, wreaths their brows around. 

Accompanying iEneas, they repair, 

Thousands of warriors, to the sepulchre. 



120 THE JENEIS. Book V. 

Carchesia twain he pours of Bacchus pure, 

Twain of new milk and twain of sacred gore, 85 

And purple blossoms strewing, said — " All hail ! 

Paternal spirit, shade, and ashes pale ! 

Hail, Holy Parent, I revisit thee ; 

Denied Italian promised realms to see, 

Ausonian Tibris : Holy Parent, hail !" 90 

He said ; and from receptacle and pale 

A lubric serpent issuing, he beheld ; 

With seven gyrations, seven folds, it held 

Its placid course, the tumulus around ; 

Amidst the,fanes, a silent way, it wound, 95 

Fulgent in azure marks and spots of gold — 

Like to the bow celestial we behold 

Varying its thousand colours in the sun ; 

So in their wondering sight — it gliding, won 

The goblets midst, the chalices among, loo 

Eating the offerings with innocuous tongue : 

Then from denuded fanes, back to the tomb retired. 

iEneas urged, the more, the rites required : 
Whether this were the Genius of the spot, 
Or servant of his Father, he knew not ; 105 

He slew five bident sheep, as many swine, 
And five black steers, ancf poured the holy wine 
Forth from the chalices — then called upon 
His Father's soul on high, manes from Acheron. 
Each warrior there, the gift he offers, bears ; 110 

They load the altars, sacrifice the steers, 
Dispose the cauldrons, whilst some seated round 
The spitted entrails broil them on the ground. 



Book V. THE MNEIS. 121 

And now the ninth expected morn drew on 

Serene Aurora ushering Phaeton. 115 

Fame and Acestes' reputation drew 

The neighbouring populations them unto. 

Th' ^Eneadae, bent to contend, are there, 

And to all eyes displayed, the prizes were : 

The sacred tripods, the green coronals 120 

And palms, the victor's prize at festivals — 

Armour, and purple vests, and talents told, 

Strewed on the earth, of silver and of gold — 

Aloft the trumpet sounds, and challenges the bold. 

Four galleys first, selected from the fleet, 125 

Furnished with heavy banks of oars, compete. 

Mnestheus the Pristis guides — he founder high 

Of the Italian race, the Memmii ; 

And Gyas the Chimsera guides along, 

A floating Castle, trireme huge and strong ; 130 

Sergestus, whence the house and Sergian name, 

Conducts the Centaur's bulk, enormous frame ! 

Cloanthus, whence Eoman Cluentii trace, 

Led the cerulean Scylla in the race. 

A reef stood out at sea, which waves submerge, 135 
When wintry Corus battles in the surge ; 
The haunt of sea-fowl when becalmed the sea ; 
Thereon iEneas pights an ilex tree, 
A verdant goal — the mark to turn again, 
And measure back the course athwart the main. 140 

They take their place by lot — the leaders hold 
Their poops, resplendent purple in and gold ; 



122 THE ^SNEIS. Book V. 

With poplar wreath the crews their brows entwine, 

And smeared with oil the naked shoulders shine. 

They man the banks and, arm protruded, wait 145 

The starting signal, as with hope elate 

Or fear solicitous beat every heart. 

At length the trumpet shrilly sounds — they start ! 

The waves are crusht beneath the weight of oars, 

The nautic clamour echoes on the shores, 150 

They furrow up the brine, the stroke they keep, 

The dipping beak upploughs the azure deep — 

Not so precipitate the biga's course, 
When near the goal strains forth the generous horse, 
Not so unwearied doth the charioteer 155 

Lash and control them on their rash career. 

Then the whole shore and the whole grove around 
With shouts of men and party cries resound. 
First, " Gyas, G-yas ! " as he shot ahead 
And took the lead ; second Cloanthus sped, 160 

Better in oars, but bulkier in frame ; 
Whilst prow to prow behind contending came 
Pristis and Centaur, equal in their speed ; 
The Pristis now, the Centaur now would lead ; 
With level prows now they together strain, 165 

And furrow with long hulks the briny main. 

They neared the rock when Gyas interfered, 
Eating his pilot — old Menoetes steered, — 
" Where art thou steering to, I say — to sea ? 
Larboard, I say, and scrape the rock to lee, 170 



Book V. THE ^ENEIS. 123 

Let others sheer aloof" — in vain he spoke, 

Cautious Menoetes dreads some sunken rock, 

And keeps his course ; " Where art thou steering, eh !" 

G-yas rethundering calls, " larboard, I say." 

E'en whilst he spoke the Scylla steers between 175 

Him and the rock, and now her stern is seen 

Doubling the goal and dancing o'er the waves. 

With indignation fired, Gyas raves, 

The burning tear-drop starting from his eye, 

Mindless of friendship's claims or decency, 180 

Hurled his old comrade overboard, and then 

Turned hard the helm, encouraging his men — 

He, old and heavy, sunk low in the deep, 

And reascending clutched the friendlier steep. 

The Trojans saw him sink, but laughed to see 185 

Him swim, and disembogue the bitter sea. 

Sergestus now the second in the race, 

Nearest the rock appropriates the space. 

Mnestheus behind exhorts his comrades slow, 

" Row, row, my men, Hectorean comrades row ; 100 

Chosen companions from down-fallen Troy, 

Now urge that vigour, now that strength employ, 

Which on Getulian Syrtes has been tried, 

On seas Ionian, on the Malean tide ; 

Not now doth Mnestheus ask for victory, 195 

That ! where Neptune willeth, let that be ; 

But to be last of all, from our fair name 

Comrades ! avert such perdurable fame." 

They strive, they strive, the vessel owns the strain, 

Their lips are parched, the toil drops fall like rain, 200 



124 THE JENEIS. Book V. 

And frequent sobs betray the labouring limb, 
When unexpected chance befriended him. 

Sergestus hot, steered closer to the rock, 
And struck upon its sunken reefs ; the shock 
And sharp concussion shattering their oars, 205 

And the prow stuck ; up leapt the mariners, 
Seizing each landing-hook and iron prong 
To save the oars, that floated waves among ; 
Whilst Mnestheus, glad his rival's plight to see, 
Now invocates the winds, and bears to sea — 210 

Like to the dove that rudely dispossessed, 
In shady cavern of its home and nest, 
Flees to the open fields ; the sudden fright 
And clanging wings, changing to noiseless flight, 
Pursues her easy way on pinions broad — 215 

So Mnestheus, so the Pristis on her road 
Flees and avoids the rock for open main ; 
They pass Sergestus hailing them in vain, 
Toiling and labouring on the treacherous reef, 
Gathering his gear and bawling for relief ; 220 

They pass the huge ChiinaBra's bulk and band, 
Lacking the guidance of a pilot's hand ; 
They round the goal, now they the Scylla view 
Alone ahead — and gain upon her too — 
Like men resolved to win the Scylla's strive, 225 

Men who for victory their lives would give ; 
And glowing with success, the Pristis' crew 
With confidence inspired, are nerved anew. 
And haply neither would have then prevailed, 
Save but for prayer, aiding where vigour failed. 230 



Book V. THE ^NEIS. 125 

Cloanthus prayed and called the Gods in aid : 

" Ye Gods, who rule on ocean ; Gods ! " he said, 

" I vow to slay, if I the victor be, 

Upon yon shore a milk white bull to ye. 

The sacred entrails to the salt consign, 235 

And sanctify them with libated wine." 

To caverned depths descends the vow preferred, 

The Nereids, Phorcys, Panopea heard. 

Father Portunus with his mighty hand 

Impels the bark, the Scylla bounds to land, 240 

Swifter than Notus or an arrow's flight, 

Glides into port evanishing from sight. 

The Herald's voice, to the assembled shore, 

Duly proclaimed Cloanthus conqueror ; 

Him Anchisiades with laurel crowned. 245 

The Scylla's crew with steers and Avine are found, 

And silver talent to distribute round. 

The chief is honoured with another prize, 

A chlamys, cloth of gold, amidst its dyes 

Mseandring, Meliboean purple vies. 250 

The royal boy of leafy Ida there 

Followed on foot the chase, an antler'd deer ; 

It seemed to pant ; the armiger of Jove 

Stooped from above to the Idsean grove, 

And in his talons bears the boy away ; 255 

Thereon, with upraised hands, his guardians pray 

And the affrighted dogs appear to bay. 

The second place and prize by Mnestheus won, 
A coat of mail with hasps and buckles on, 



126 THE -fflNEIS. Book V. 

And triply in its scales of gold embossed : 260 

Beneath the walls, Demoleon it lost, 

Where Simois with rapid current flows, 

iEneas unto ; iEneas now bestows 

It Mnestheus on — his glory and defence — 

Scarce Sagaris and Phegeus bore it thence, 265 

So weighty 'twas ; and yet Demoleon 

Followed the Trojans lightly with it on. 

Of brass two bowls, of silver goblets twain, 
Keward the third contender of the main. 

Now all contented, upon every brow 270 

In gladness wound, the purple fillets flow. 
And now afloat on her inglorious track, 
Sergestus brings his crippled vessel back, 
Unshipped her useless and one-sided oars ; 
They meet derisive cheers and feigned applause. 275 
As on a causeway, an unwary snake 
Is intercepted ere it gain the brake, 
And crushed by brazen wheel or battering stone 
Half dead is left, — and, its assailant gone, 
Writhing it re-attempts its onward way 280 

With flashing eyes, and hissing as at bay, 
Involves itself in interwrithing folds,— 
E'en so its crippled course the vessel holds 
Entering the port, beneath its bulging sail. 
The good iEneas bids his comrade hail, 285 

Kejoicing in the safety of the ship, 
Accords e'en unto them the promised gift ; 



Book V. THE ^NEIS. 127 

Skilled in Minerva's craft, with infants twain, 
The Cretan Pholoe mitigates his pain. 

And now the good ^Eneas left the sea, 290 

And bent his steps towards the grassy lea, 

Where hills and groves on every side surround 

The theatre and circus ; thither bound, 

With thousands him attending, he appears, 

The throne of turf ascended, 'midst the peers. 295 

The runners there, Trojans, Sicanians wend, 

And Xisus, and Euryalus his friend : 

In matchless youth Euryalus stood forth, 

Nisus the next, enamoured of his worth, 

Trojan Diores of King Priam's house ; 300 

Salius and Patron, less illustrious, 

One Acarnanian, one Arcadian ; 

Panops and Elyinus, Trinacrians twain, 

Companion huntsmen to Acestes old ; 

And many more beside by Fame untold. 305 

The good iEneas from the middle sward 

Declared : " No one shall run without reward. 

Each shall receive two Gnossian shafts, inlaid 

With silver, and an axe of burnished blade ; 

With wreaths of olive for the foremost three. 310 

A horse with full caparison shall be 

First victor's prize — the second in the race 

A belt, and quiver filled with shafts of Thrace, 

Clasped with a golden brooch and polished stone ; 

The third, this helm Argolic, wins alone." 315 



128 THE ^NEIS. Book V. 

-ZEneas spoke ; they stand, the signal sounds — 

Like to the driven clouds each forward bounds ; 

Nisus the foremost far, like viewless wind 

Or the dread thunderbolt ; and far behind 

Is Salius second ; then Euryalus ; 320 

And next Euryalus is Elymus, 

And panting on his very neck he feels 

Trojan Diores treading on his heels. 

So did they near the goal, when Nisus trod — 

Unhappy Nisus ! — on a miry sod, 325 

Slippery with gore the ground ; the oxen slain 

Had shed their life-blood on the grassy plain. 

With victory glad, in thought already won, 

This faithless turf his foot he planted on, 

And tumbled prone in mud and holy gore ; 330 

Then mindful of Euryalus — before 

His rival Salius, grovelling as he lay, 

He tumbled him upon the miry clay — 

Euryalus shot by, by friendship's aid, 

'Midst shouts and favouring cries the victor made. 335 

And next young Elymus came second in ; 

Diores, third, amidst a noisy din. 

Then was the conclave stunned, the area rung, 
By Salius and the clamour of his tongue ; 
He claimed the prize filched from him by a cheat ; 340 
But youth and beauty favoured the deceit ; 
In sooth his worth and tear ingenuous 
Took part and favoured young Euryalus ; 
Diores aided too with louder cries, 
If Salius won Diores lost his prize. 345 



^n^H^Mana 



Book V. THE ^ENEIS. 129 

Father iEneas interposed : — " 'Tis done, 

Nought may reverse, friends, a victory won ; 

The prizes are decreed ; to me pertains 

To soothe the pang of undeserved pains." 

To Salius, then, he gave the gilded pride 350 

Of a Getulian lion's shaggy hide. 

"And if," quoth Nisus, "you such gifts bestow 

The vanquished on, and slips you pity so, 

What gift for Nisus, who hath lost the prize 

Only thro' fickle fortune's vagaries ? 355 

Me more than Salius hath that fall beguiled." 

Then showed his limbs begrimed. 

The best of sires smiled, 
As forthwith he commanded to be brought 
The shield, Didymaonian cunning wrought, * 

A Danaan trophy torn from Neptune's fane. 360 

That worthy gift made Nisus glad again. 

" Now ye, whose spirits high and bold hearts dare 

The caestus upon stalwart arms to rear, 

" Stand forth," iEneas said : a double prize, 

Twin honours to reward your energies. 365 

A steer with fillets bound the victor's due, 

A sword and beaming helm the vanquished to." 

Without delay, Dares stood forward then, 

Amidst the shouts of the applauding men ; 

With Paris he disputed had the prize ; 370 

He at the tumulus where Hector lies 

Slew Butes, from Bebrycia who came, 

The son of Amycus ; whose ponderous frame 



130 THE .ENEIS. Book V. 

Victorious no more, there bit the sand. 

Now higher by the head doth Dares stand, ,575 

Displays his shoulders, and with hands unbound 

He smites the air and the vain blows resound. 

He stood alone, opponent none appeared ; 

'Gainst him to rear the caestus no one dared. 

Elate with glory, deeming all dismayed 380 

He sought iEneas, and he proudly said, 

Grasping the steer's left horn — 

" None tempts his fate ; 
goddess-born ! how long behoves to wait ? 
Award the prize." The Trojans shout for joy 
To see the champion was a man of Troy. 385 

But now Acestes doth Entellus chide, 
Upon the verdant sward couched by his side : 
" Entellus, vain it is that hitherto 
Thou art unconquered, if thou dost forego, 
Unchallenged, such a prize ; where is thy God, 390 

Eryx thy tutor, in whose steps you trod ; 
Thy fame, wherewith Trinacria hath rung, 
And trophies round thy central pillar hung ?" 
" Friend," said Entellus, " 'tis not fear restrains ; 
The love of glory struggles in my veins ; 395 

But age, old age, has robbed my arm of force, 
And sapped my heart's blood in its wonted course. 
If I were now that I was formerly, 
Yon boaster should not bear himself so high : 
Albeit the steer I view with careless eyes, 400 

The honour of the fight I dearly prize." 



Book V. THE iENEIS. 131 

He said, and in the midst of all he cast 

A pair of caestus, ponderous and vast, 

Which the fierce Eryx wonted was to don — 

The steel his hands, the thongs his arms upon. 405 

All gazed on seven thongs of ox-hide spread 

Before their sight, rigid with steel and lead. 

Dares beheld them and his spirit fell : 

Whilst Anchisiades regarding well, 

Still poring o'er their folds voluminous, 410 

The whilst Entellus spoke their story thus : — 

"What, had you seen those that Alcides bore, 

And their encounter on this very shore ; 

With these begirt your brother Eryx stood, 

Still clotted as you see with brain and blood. 415 

With these, he fought the mighty Hercules ; 

And I since then have battled oft with these, 

Or ere old age had dulled the current's flow 

Or bleached the hairs upon this hoary brow. 

But if it Trojan Dares will content, 420 

And if ^Eneas and my king consent, 

These I forego for such as are more fair, 

And meet the Trojan with a Trojan pair." 

Entellus spoke, his mantle off he threw 

And gave his bulk and sinews to the view. 425 

Father iEneas then their caestus chose, 

And with an equal pair their hands inclose. 

And now erect on nervous feet they stand, 
And confident in strength uprear each hand ; 

k 2 



132 THE TENETS. Book V. 

The guarded head on high they backward throw 430 

Whilst the arms ward, and mingle blow with blow ; 

More active one, of youth advantage gains, 

And one with strength and bulk his ground maintains ; 

His ground maintains — but the knee bends beneath, 

And the deep sob bewrays the labouring breath. 435 

Blows warded and unwarded fall apace 

Upon the echoing breast and jaws and face ; 

Entellus stands the siege, with wary eyes 

Warding assault — his strength he manages ; 

Whilst, like the foe beleaguering the town, 440 

Or with the ram beating its castles down, 

Now here, now there, an entrance who essays, 

And varies his assault a thousand ways, 

Fought Dares. Now Entellus threats the foe, 

But Dares shunned the long-descending blow, 445 

And, baffled of his aim, the giant sunk 

Prone to the ground ; like to some mighty trunk, 

Some pine of Erymanth or Ida, thrown 

By failing roots or carking ages down. 

The Trojans and Trinacrians rend the skies 450 

With diverse clamour ; whilst Acestes flies 

To aid and succour his coseval friend. 

Entellus only riseth up — to wend 

Back to the battle ; deeply wounded pride 

And conscious worth and anger, strength supplied. 455 

On Dares he precipitates his path ; 

Now right, now left, he vents his heated wrath, 

Nor rest nor respite — like the driving hail 

The battered shed upon, his blows prevail ; 



Book V. THE ^NEIS. 133 

So battered and so mauled dotli Dares stand 460 

Beneath his giant and resistless hand. 

Father iEneas marked the innate wrath, 
The fierce and native passion bursting forth, 
And stopped the fight : " Dares ! " he first began, 
And soothed with cheerful words the beaten man, 465 
" Unhappy ! cease ; 'tis madness to contend ; 
Perceivest thou not the powers that him befriend, 
Yield to the God : the contest here must end." 

To rescue then his trusty comrades sped, 

And raised his failing knees and drooping head ; 470 

Him, to the ships bleeding and sick they bore, 

And battered teeth are mingled with the gore. 

His due, the sword and helmet, they receive — 

The bull and palm Entellus with they leave. 

He proud of heart and hot with victory, 475 

" Thou goddess-born and Trojan men," quoth he, 

" Behold the youthful strength Entellus owned, 

And fate thy Dares, rightly had atoned." 

Confronting then his prize and standing full 

He smote the filletted devoted bull, 480 

The smiting caestus fell the horns between, 

Thro' broken bone and the bespattered brain — 

Down fell the brute, whilst standing o'er it, he, 

" Eryx ! " exclaimed ; " devoted unto thee 

For Dares, doth this better victim die 485 

Ere I thine art and arms depose for aye." 



134 THE .ENEIS. Book V. 

JEneas now proposed the prize addressed 
To him who winged the flying arrow best. 
Serestes reared the mast, whereon a dove, 
Mark for the hissing shaft, was bound above. 490 

The brazen helmet holds the lots ; they draw, 
And the first name, 'midst favouring shouts, they saw, 
Was thine Hyrtacides — Hippocoon ; 
Mnestheus the next, with crown of olive on ; 
The third Eurytion's was, the brother he 495 

Of noble Pandarus, — who formerly, 
Ordered to break the truce, the weapon cast 
Amidst the Grecian ranks ; the fourth and last 
Acestes was : he, in decline of life, 
Yet dared to try his hand in youthful strife. 500 

Then with their lusty arms they bended bows, 
And their best arrow from the quivers chose. 
Hyrtacides the first, the cord he drew, 
And the swift weapon whistled as it flew ; 
It struck the mast, 'midst plaudits loud and high, 505 
And the affrighted bird took wing to fly. 
Mnestheus succeeds, with bended bow he stands, 
Fain with his eye to aid the cunning hands ; 
He hapless inissed the dove, but cut the string 
Which by the foot held the bird fluttering ; 510 

On wings of wind it sought the friendlier skies : 
But swifter yet the Lycian arrow flies ; 
His brother's name Eurytion invocates, 
And launched the arrow winged with the fates, 
And pierced the trembler 'neath a sable cloud ; 515 

Leaving its life on high, 'midst plaudits loud 



Book V. THE iENEIS. 135 

To earth transfixed it falls. And now alone 

Acestes stands ; the palm disputed won. 

And as he stood, he lightly twanged the yew 

To show its force and prove his arrow true : 520 

But in the sight of all a prodigy 

Followed the deed, foreboding evil nigh, 

Impending evil, unto seers unshown, 

And in the sequel only to be known ; 

The arrow blazed with fire the clouds among, 525 

Leaving a fiery track, it passed along 

Absorbed in air — like the red meteor 

Which draws its trail of hair the heavens o'er. 

Trinacrians and Trojans stood amazed 

As, deprecating Heaven's wrath, they gazed. 530 

Nor doth iEneas the great omen slight ; 

He folds Acestes in his arms of might, 

He tenders him the prize, and tendering — 

" Take it," he said, " sire ! he the King 

Of high Olympus wills it so to be, 535 

And sets the lot aside to honour thee ; 

The prize, that bowl with figures covered o'er, 

My sire Anchises owned in days of yore ; 

The Thracian Cisseus gave it him, to be 

A pledge of lasting love and amity." 540 

Then placed the wreath of laurel on his brow, 

And hailed Acestes victor of the bow. 

The good Eurytion yields without a word, 

Albeit his the shaft that slew the bird ; 

The second his who cut the string ; the last 545 

His whose good arrow settled in the mast. 



136 THE JENEIS. Book Y. 

And now iEneas hails Epytides — 

The guardianship lulus of, was his — 

And gave instructions to his faithful ear : 

" Up now and go, bid them in arms appear ; 550 

Let young Aseanius and the youth of Troy 

Honour his grandsire, and on field deploy." 

The crowds fall back — they come, and proudly dight 

They rein their horses in their fathers' sight, 

Co-equal all : in native mode was set 555 

Upon their brows the simple coronet ; 

Quivered were some ; two cornel spears all hold, 

And on their necks the torques of flexile gold. 

Three troops they form, and three the leaders are, 

Twelve youths in each, versed in the pomp of war ; 560 

One band commanded by young Priam came, 

Son of Polites, with his grandsire's name, 

And root of that great stem Italian. 

He rode a Thracian steed, of trappings vain, 

Of mottled hide, and fetlocks white before, 565 

And the bright star which the broad forehead bore. 

The next was Atys, whence the Atti sprung, — 
Atys, companion of lulus young. 
The last, but fairest far, lulus rode 
His steed Sidonian ; Dido it bestowed, 570 

Pledge and memorial of her love ; the rest 
From royal stalls Trinacrian horses pressed ; 
Shouts greet their bashfulness ; the Trojans cry, 
Kemembering in the sons their ancestry. 
They trod the arena in the eyes of all, 575 

And when the thong Epytides let fall, 



Book V. THE ^NEIS. 137 

Upon that signal forthwith they divide, 

And formed into respective bands they ride ; 

A second signal, and with darts they charge ; 

A third, they wheel again in orbit large, 580 

They mingle ranks and separate, and to sight 

Present the fair resemblance of the fight : 

Xow they retreat, now rally on the plain 

And troop in equal ranks in peace again. 

So erst, in Cretan Labyrinth, they say 585 

Windings beguiled the intercepted way ; 

With error irremediable there, 

A thousand wiles betrayed the wanderer. 

And so the Trojan youth in mimic fight, 

Wound and unwound the battle and the flight ; 590 

The dolphins like unto, that on the plain 

Of sea Carpathian, or the Libyan main, 

Disporting play. In days succeeding those 

When Alba Longa's mighty wall arose, 

These games did King Ascanius reinstate, 595 

And taught the Latins them to celebrate. 

Reviewed as man, his pastimes as a boy, 

And taught the Alban race the sports of Troy. 

Received from them, imperial Rome still names [600 

That band the "Trojan;" games, the "Trojan Games.'' 

Thus far the solemn rites perfected were, 
Parental honours paid by filial care ; 
Now fortune changed, ever inconstant known. 
Juno Saturnia sent Iris down 



138 THE ^NEIS. Book V. 

Commissioned to the ships — her flight she urged, 605 

Not yet, not yet, of ancient passion purged ; 

Her messenger descends ; dyes thousand shed 

Of light conceal'd the virgin as she sped ; 

The port deserted, concourse on the shore, 

And the untended fleet, she hovered o'er, 610 

And where apart the Trojan women met, 

Weeping Anchises for — their cheeks were wet 

With weeping as they viewed the ocean wide, 

And with one sole inspiring spirit sighed 

For rest — a city — no more wanderings. 615 

The Goddess prescient of all hurtful things 

Wends thitherward ; in form and garb stood she 

Amongst the matrons like dame Beroe, 

Wife to Ismarian Doryclus, — a name 

Allied to fortune, progeny, and fame. 620 

" Unhappy Trojans, by no Grecian hand 

Consigned to dust in the paternal land ; 

Unhappy Trojans, doomed to heavier woe 

Than they who sleep their native walls below — 

The seventh summer sun now shines upon 625 

Troy's exiled children — onward yet we run 

Thro' seas, skies, rocks, inhospitable shores, 

And all in vain ; Italia mocks our oars. 

What hinders us these miseries to end 

Eryx our kinsman, and Acestes' friend. 630 

Kebuild our walls and refuge us again — 

For oh, my country and my Gods, in vain 



Book V. THE ^NEIS. 139 

Snatched from the flames — shall we no more behold 

The walls of Troy arise like Troy of old ? 

No more loved Xanthus and Simois see — 635 

Hectorean rivers ? Up, and act with me ; 

Fire these ships calamitous : last night 

Cassandra's shade prophetic rose to sight, 

Presenting burning brands — and said, ' With these 

Kebuild your Troy and end your miseries.' 640 

Rebuild your Troy. Lo, the accorded hour — 

Slight not the accorded prophecy and power : 

Behold four shrines to Neptune, to our hands 

The God, the God presents the blazing brands." 

She said, and dragged one forth, a moment whirled 645 

And with a baneful aim the brand she hurled. 

The deed the dames irresolute behold : 

When Pyrgo from the crowd obscure and old — 

Nurse once in Priam's house — exclaimed, " I wis 

This is not Beroe — no wife is this 650 

Of our Bhoetean Doryclus — for grace 

Attends her footsteps, majesty her face 

And the tongue's accent. We know Beroe lies 

Absent and sick, from these solemnities ; 

In solitude laments Anchises lost, 655 

Nor offers funeral honours to his ghost." 

So Pyrgo said ; and in their eyes confessed 

The glance malignant spoke the dubious breast ; 

They ponder and they vacillate between 

The present rest, the promised reign serene, 660 



140 THE ^ENEIS. Book V. 

When rising bright on her celestial wings, 
Her arc of light beneath, the Goddess springs. 
Transported at the sight, the maddened dames 
Snatched from the fanes the consecrated flames, 
Despoiled the altars of the dry and green, 605 

And Vulcan raged resistless, launched between 
Benches and oars and poops of gilded sheen. 

Eumulus bore the tidings to the tomb ; 
The ships were burnt ; and surely was the doom 
Seen in the ashes volatating high. 670 

Ascanius drew the rein and marked the sky 
Buddy with glare, and thither spurred amain, 
Though panic-stricken seniors would restrain. 

" What reckless rage," he cried, u is this ? all lost ! 

This is no hostile, this no Argive host ! 675 

hapless comrades, miserable blow — 

You burn your only hope ; behold me ! lo ! 

Ascanius, I," and cast in grief profound 

His helmet and its coronet to ground. 

But they affrighted fled ; fain, fain to hide 680 

In woods or caverns fretted by the tide ; 

Mourned and lamented, and too late confessed 

The wrath of Juno in the maddened breast. 

iEneas comes, with men a multitude ; 

But not by force is raging fire subdued. 685 

Beneath the ribs of oak, unguented tow 

Allures the flame conducting it below ; 

From the deep keel thick vapour soars again, 



Book V. THE ^INEIS. 141 

And man and labour counteract in vain. 

iEneas from his shoulders rent his vest, 690 

And with clasped hands the Gods of Heaven addressed, 

" O Jupiter omnipotent — if thou 

Condemn not Troy to perish wholly now — 

If thou with wonted mercy dost behold 

Things mortal — Father, now this flame withhold, 695 

And save, oh save, the thin remains of Troy ! 

Or if it rather please thee to destroy, 

And death be merited — let thy right hand 

Thy thunder fall and slay me as I stand." 

Scarce had he ceased or ere the thunders sound, 700 

And cloud surcharged with tempest gathered round ; 

Turbid with waters thro' the expanse driven, 

The foggy south obscured the vault of heaven ; 

Then breaking on the ships the deluge came, 

And all, save four, redeemed from fire and flame. 705 

But by this blow calamitous oppressed, 

Father iEneas in his troubled breast 

Kevolved the doubtful point and meditates 

Whether to stay — forgetful of his fates — 

Or quit again Sicilian friendly states. 710 

Then Nautes, by Tritonian Pallas taught, 

A senior versed in her prophetic thought, 

Disclosing portents of celestial hate 

And irreversible decrees of Fate — 

Old Nautes comforted iEneas then : 715 

"0 goddess-born, as Fortune guideth men, 



142 THE iENEXS. Book V. 

We ebb and flow ; but be what will the doom 

'Tis by enduring virtue overcome. 

Dardan Acestes of thy race divine, 

Desires now to mingle his with thine. 720 

Accord with his desire ; your vessels lost, 

Abridge thy means ; leave such as suffer most, 

Old men and matrons, such as wearied be, 

And the more trepid, such as dread the sea, 

Here let them rest and build upon the coast 725 

Their town Acesta, surnamed from their host." 

The senior's zealous words usurped his ear, 

And filled his anxious heart with added fear. 

Nox in her biga reassumed the reins : 

Descending when from the celestial plains 730 

Anchises came to counsel with his son. 

" Dearer than life," his accents so begun, 

" Son — long enduring Iliacan fates, 

By Jove commanded, by my mouth he states, 

He spared the ships? -commiserating thee ; 735 

And fates with prudent Nantes now agree. 

The young and lusty to Italia bear : 

A nation fierce and hostile waits you there, 

Latins yet unsubdued. But, or ere this, 

Seek you the realms of the infernal Dis, 740 

And thro' Avernus deep, my son, seek me : 

Not that black Tartarus claims our fealty ; 

In sweet communion with the blest and just, 

Elysium I inhabit. Thither must 



Book V. THE ^NEIS. 143 

The Sibyl chaste conduct thee ; she thy guide, 745 

With blood of sable victims purified ; 

There shalt thou learn in full thy future fate, 

Future descendants, and the promised state. 

And now farewell — Nox on her humid course 

Hath circled nearly ; and I hear the horse, 750 

Hostile to me, of the relentless East." 

He said, and vanished ere the accents ceased — 

iEneas still imploring him to stay, 

Asking what power relentless forced away. 

Then did he fan the heap of smouldering fire, 755 

Then sought the Lar Pergamean, and pyre 

Of hoary Vesta ; then with holy zeal 

Keplenished censers and renewed the meal ; 

Then to his comrades and Acestes old 

The wi]l of Jove, will by Anchises told, 760 

Kepeated he, with yearnings of his breast ; 

Acestes bowing to the fates' behest. 

Now matrons they and populace assign, 

And all whose hearts beat not with heat divine ; 

The vessels they repaired with banks and oars 765 

For fewer but more fervent warriors. 

iEneas ploughed the future city's site, 

And Troy and Ilium its districts hight ; 

Homesteads and tenements by lot assigned, 

And to Acestes good the rule resigned. 770 

They mark the forum and enact the laws 

By conscript sires : and upon Eryx soars 



141 THE ^NEIS. Book V. 

Venus Idalian's Erycinan fane. 

The tumulus sepulchral, on the plain, 
Anchises' tomb — a holy grove surrounds, 775 

And a priest tends its consecrated grounds. 

And now the ninth day of the feast was o'er, 
The fanes were naked, breezes swept the shore, 
The steady south now summoned them to sail, 
Then rose the shore upon, the voice of wail. 780 

By day and thro' the night the partings last, 
The matrons now who quailed at perils past, 
To whom the sea was most unbearable, * 
Now wish to sail again and brave each ill. 

The good iEneas, weeping doth commend 785 

Their welfare to his consanguineous friend. 

Then ere they cut the mooring ropes, he slew 

Three steers to Eryx, one lamb Tempest to, 

Circled his head with the shorn olive bough, 

And with the chalices from off the prow, 790 

With salted entrails and libated wine, 

Propitiated Ocean ; breezes fine 

And oars propelled their vessels thro' the brine. 

But Venus, sick at heart, to Neptune went, 

And to her bosom's misery giving vent : 795 

" Neptune, Juno's wrath insatiate, 

Her heavy unextinguishable hate, 

Compels me to descend with prayer to thee, 

Nought mitigates, nor time nor piety, 



Book V. THE .ENEIS. 145 

Nor Jove nor irremediable fate ; 800 

Eebellious still, albeit the Phrygian state, 

Subverted by remorseless rage, is lost, 

Her exiles in distress and misery tossed — 

Their ashes and their bones she must destroy, 

And wars against memorials of Troy. 8C5 

Thou know'st the causes, for thou witness wast 

When upon Libyan waves the fleet was tossed, 

When iEolus for her let loose his slaves 

And on your ocean empire turmoiled waves ; 

And now the Trojan dames, by her inspired, 

Maddened by her, their country's fleet have fired ; 810 

And he, iEneas, fain to leave a host 

Upon that unknown shore, their vessels lost — 

But if it lawful be, that I implore 

If Fate concede a refuge on the shore 

Of the Laurentian Tybris ; — save, oh save 815 

My votaries, voyaging upon thy wave." 

Saturnius, Lord of Ocean, made reply : 

" 'Tis very lawful, Venus, to rely 

On me and mine, and seas from whence you sprung ; 

And very fain am I, his friends among 820 

To guard him, not alone upon the main, — 

Xanthus and Simois I attest again, 

But upon land. When, Trojan walls beneath, 

Achilles' slaughtering hand inflicted death 

On multitudes, when rivers clogged with slain 825 

And Xanthus flowed encumbered to the main, 



146 THE 2ENEIS. Book V. 

Unequal matched ; when hostile gods fought there 

I saved iEneas from Pelides' spear : 

Then also, when we laboured to destroy 

The walls, myself had built, of perjured Troy — 830 

As then, so now, fain am I to support 

And waft him safely to the Avernan port. 

One only he must lose — one head must fall, 

One single victim must atone for all."* 

The whilst the Goddess flies relieved afar, 835 

He joined the horses to his golden car, 
Yields to their course impetuous the rein ; 
The car cerulean lightly skims the main, 
The waves subside, the billows ceased to rove, 
And every cloud dispersed in skies above. 840 

His various train, sea monsters, gambol round 
Old Glaucus and his choir, the Tritons bound, 
The band of Phorcus, and Palsemon free ; 
And on the left, Thetis and Melite, 
The virgin Panopea, Nesaea, 845 

Spio, Cymodoce, and Thalia. 
A beam of joy shot thro' the Trojan's breast 
To see, in evening calm, the waters rest. 
He gives command, at once they sails unbind, 
Hoist masts, and give the canvas to the wind. 850 

From the mast-arms unrolled the sails descend, 
Before the breezes bland the vessels wend, 
Them Palinurus leads, all in his wake attend. 

Now night attained the middle goal on high, 

On benches hard the men soft slumbering lie, 855 



Book V. THE JENEIS. 147 

When Somnus downward wending urged his flight 

And dissipates the while the gloom of night, 

Thee Palinurus seeking — downward sped 

With baneful slumbers for thy harmless head. 

The God descending lights the poop upon, 860 

Like unto Phorbas in his look and tone ; 

" Hail Palinurus ! Hail Iasides ! 

Thy ships progress witb steady tide and breeze. 

Sacred to rest, the hour ; let sleep beguile 

Those leaden eyelids of their task awhile, 865 

I, I myself, thy duties undertake." 

Then Palinurus, good sooth, half awake, 

" Dost thou bid me in confidence to sleep, 

Ignore experience, trust yon harlot deep, 

Commit iEneas to inconstant skies, 870 

Perilled so often by their treacheries ? " 

He grasped the helm more firmly as he spoke, 

And fixed upon the stars his constant look. 

Behold ! the God a soporific threw, 

A Stygian branch dropping Lethaean dew, 875 

And smote his eyelids, and his eyelids closed. 

The God then seized him as his head reposed 

Incumbent o'er him, tore the poop, then he 

Cast rended helm and helmsman in the sea, 

Calling his comrades and for help in vain ; 880 

As Somnus soared on wings of wind again. 

Yet safely did the vessels stem the seas, 

Safe in the faith of Neptune's promises. 

Now near the Sirens' rocks they sailed, which then 
Were perilous, and white with bones of men. 885 

l2 



148 THE^NEIS. BookV. 

When he the roar of rocks and waters heard, 

Father iEneas first perceived they erred, 

And that the vessels sailed without a guide. 

Kising he steered the vessel through the tide, 

And grieving for the fate he koew not, said : 890 

" Palinurus, bare, unsepulchred, 

Of seas and skies serene, too, too secure, 

Thy corpse is stranded on some unknown shore." 



Book VI. THE ^BNBIS. 149 



BOOK VI. 

So plained he weeping : then the conduct gave 

Unto the breeze, the vessels cut the wave 

And safely made Euboean Cumae's strand. 

The biting anchors dropped, the ardent band 

Of Trojan youth leapt upon land to moor, 5 

The prows to sea the poops upon the shore. 

Then fire from flints and fuel from the brake, 

And water from the crystal streams they take. 

But he, iEneas, sought the lofty fane 
Phoebus inhabits ; precincts which contain, 10 

In cavern huge and in mysterious home, 
With mighty mind unfolding things to come, 
His Sibyl Maid. 

Thro' Trivia's groves, the golden roofs he gains. 
Presumptuous Daedalus, fleeing Minoian reigns, 15 

On swooping pinions urged his bold career 
To northern regions thro' the realms of air ; 
And lighting on this mound Chalcidican, 
He to Apollo that fair fane began 
And dedicated his Daedalian wings. 20 

Then poured his genius forth in sculpturings ; 
First in the series, how Androgeos died, 
And penalty Athenian realms supplied ; 
Around the urn her youthful victims stand, 
And, the horizon on, the Gnossian land. 25 



150 THE JENEIS. Book VI. 

And next, thy lamentable love had place 
Pasiphae ; — the mingled form and race 
Confounded and confused : the Minotaur, 
Sad monument of lust. 

Next subject of his lore, 
The Labyrinth ; that house of guile and ill, 30 

Work of his hands inviolate, — until 
Pitying the passion of the royal maid, 
The guiding thread, himself disposed and laid, 
And secret of the prison-house betrayed. 

And thou too, Icarus, thou should'st have had 35 

A place and foremost there, but grief forbad ; 
The old Man oft essayed the task, but still, 
From the paternal hand, the gold unfashioned fell. 

Achates then returned, accompanied — 

To the rapt Trojan — by the divining maid, . 40 

Priestess of Phoebus, she to Trivia dear, 

Glauca Deiphobe : " Trojan ! what do you here ? " 

She said — "Is this a time to feed your eyes 

Gazing on empty show ? Arise, arise, 

Command the sacrifice, the victims choose, 45 

Seven unyoked bullocks, seven spotless ewes." 

The hero gave command : which, when obeyed, 
They followed to the fane the Sibyl maid. 

Deep in the rock that cavern quarried lies ; 

A hundred portals, hundred galleries, 50 

Communicating with its crypts of gloom, 

Issue as many sounds, the words of doom. 



Book VI. THE ^ENEIS. 151 

They reached the cavern, and its threshold trod, 
When, with loud voice, " The God ! behold the God ! 
Trojan demand thy fates :" the Sibyl said. 55 

Then changed her aspect, then her colour fled, 
Bristled her locks, her bosom's throbs confessed 
The fearful inspiration of her breast, 
Her stature rose, her altered voice betrayed 
The overpowering godhead in the maid. 60 

" Trojan JEneas, why do you delay ? 
What, know you not," she said, " the only way 
To ope these doors is sacrifice with prayer." 
Then her lips closed in silence. Icy fear 
Crept through the Trojan's veins as he addressed 65 

And poured this supplication from his breast : 
" Phcebus ! Father and benignant power, 
Thou never absent in the needful hour 
Of fallen Troy. Thou that didst point the steel 
Of Paris to the vulnerable heel 70 

Of dread iEacides : we 'neath thy guidance, have 
Passed many lands and traversed breadths of wave, 
And realms Massylian and Syrtes' sands, 
And hold, at last, Italia's fleeting lands. 
And ye immortal Powers, by whose decree 75 

Troy fell, and "Trojan glory ceased to be, 
Ye Gods and Goddesses accord us peace, 
And let our long-enduring misery cease. 
And thou most sacred Prophetess ! declare, 
Prescient of all things, what our fortunes are ; 80 



152 THE JENEIS. Book VI. 

Instruct us, where the banished gods of Troy- 
May build their fanes, and holy rites enjoy ; 
That land where we may marble temples raise 
To Phoebus and to Trivia ; holy days 
Sacred to him appoint ; and unto thee, 85 

maiden, an inviolate sanctuary, 
Wherein thy words of truth we may enshrine, 
And priesthood, for their custody, assign. 
But do not trust the knowledge of your mind 
To fleeting scrolls, the sport of every wind, 90 

But, maiden ! let thy mouth our fates assert." 

He ceased ; nor longer passive or inert 
The Sibyl stood ; the God usurped her soul, 
And forced the human clay to his control ; 
The hundred doors expanded, as the maid, 95 

Convulsed by inspiration, prophesied : 
" Great as have been your perils on the main, 
Such and still greater upon land remain ; 
Yet doubt not this, that Fate accords your due, 
The realm Lavinian ; realm of woe to you. 100 

Wars, dreadful wars, I see, and Tyber's flood 
Kolling its wave discoloured with your blood ; 
Nor Simois, nor Xanthus, wanting are, 
Nor Doric camps ; — a new Achilles there, 
And he, too, goddess-born, confederate 105 

With Juno's ceaseless and immortal hate : 
Needy and suppliant you ask in vain 
Succour and aid of the Lavinian reign : 
The cause ? The cause of old ! of faith belied, 
A foreign bridegroom and a native bride : 110 



Book VI. THE ^NEIS. 153 

Yet do not yield ; if fortune thee oppose, 
Oppose thou fortune : aid shall come from those 
You chiefly doubt, even your Grecian foes." 

So from the inmost crypt the Sibyl sung 

In words ambiguous ; where, all unstrung, 115 

Truth clashed with doubt, e'en as Apollo chose, 

In part, the will of Heaven to disclose. 

Then ceased the inspiration, and no trace 

Of passion sullied her fair maiden face. 

iEneas then resumed : " In dangers nurst, 120 

Of perils, I have proved and passed the worst ; 
Nor do I fear them now : but this I pray, 
O sacred maiden, open me the way, 
Show me the path, which leads to Acheron, 
And through the realms of darkness lead me on ; 125 
Give me once more to see my father's face, 
Give me once more to share his fond embrace. 
He, my companion, whom these shoulders bore 
Thro' flames and darts and all the Grecian war ; 
He, my companion thro' the stormy path 130 

Of ocean's foam and heaven's threatened wrath, 
With perseverance past his strength or years — 
'Twas he who bade — 'tis he who prompts these prayers, 
He sent me hither : — O then lend thine aid — 
'Tis lawful that thou do so, holy maid ! 135 

'Tis lawful, and thou canst ; for not in vain 
Th' Avernan Queen to thee confides her reign. 
So Orpheus did, the Thracian lyre he strung, 
And called his spouse the wandering Shades among ; 



154 THE .ENEXS. Book VI. 

So Pollux did, and with fraternal love 140 

Shared with his brother Shade the skies above ; 
So Theseus, so Alcides, went and came ; 
I, born of Jove, I have an equal claim." 

The Prophetess replied, as he the altar's horn 
Grasped in his earnest zeal : — " goddess-born 145 

Tros Anchisiades ! broad is that way, 
The gates of Dis are open night and day ; 
But to retrace thy footsteps — to regain 
The upper air — is labour and is pain : 
How few of those beloved by the just Jove 150 

Of those translated by their worth above, 
And born of gods, how few effected this ! 
Forests surround : Cocytus' dark abyss 
Of slumbering waves ; but if it be thy fate 
The Stygian waters twice to navigate, 155 

Twice to behold black Tartarus, nor you 
Quail from the peril dread — thus must you do. 

In an almost impenetrable glade 
Of this dense forest a tree hides in shade, 
Bearing a leafy branch in massy gold, 160 

Sacred to Stygian Juno ; glades enfold 
And valleys hide it from our mortal ken ; 
Not to be plucked by mortal man, save when 
His fates concede to view the realms below, 
When Proserpine demands that sacred bough. 165 

That bough torn off, straight is another seen 
That waves and glitters in its golden sheen ; 
Fear not to pluck it, — if the Fates accord 
'Twill meet thy grasp and yield unto thy sword ; 



Book VI. THE ^NEIS. 155 

If not, thy strength and efforts 'twill repel — 170 

Force it resists, nor will it yield to steel. 

But now depart : your comrade's body lies — 
Ye know it not ! — and lacks its obsequies ; 
The fleet infecting. Do not dally here, 
Perform his rites and raise his sepulchre ; 175 

Then hasten on the sacrifice, and slay 
The sable victims ; and the sombre way, 
If Stygian groves are open to thy steps, 
Thou shalt behold." She said, and closed her lips. 

iEneas left the cave, with pensive hue, 180 

And mournful spirit, meditating who 

Of comrades his was dead : Achates by his side, 

His faithful friend, his steps accompanied ; 

Lost in conjecture, till, attained the strand, 

They found Misenus, stretched upon the sand, 185 

Drowned and ignobly cast again to land. 

Famed was -ZEolides Misenus for 
The martial trump and brazen blast of war. 
Great Hector's comrade once, on battle-plain 
He fought with him : but when great Hector slain 190 
Yielded his trophies to Achilles' spear, 
Then to iEneas, scarce inferior, 
The warrior transferred his fealty 
And martial service. But on the shore, as he 
By pride demented, poured the brazen peal 195 

And dared the seagods to contend in skill, 
Triton, indignant, — if indignant be 
The proper term, — immersed him in the sea : 



156 THE JJNEt'S. Book VI. 

From off the rock, whereon the boaster sate, 

Smote by a wave. His friends deplored his fate, 200 

But chiefly good iEneas ; he obeys 

The Sibyl's mandate, and commands to raise 

The pyre sepulchral. The Trojans roam, 

And in the forest dells, of beasts the home, 

Level the lofty pine and rive the oak ; 205 

The ilex and the ash resound the stroke 

Of biting axe : the task iEneas shares, 

And first in toil, his part of labour bears. 

He stood and cast his gaze the forest through ; 
" Oh that I now," he said, " might pluck that bough 210 
And prove the Sibyl's words, which all too true, 
Misenus ! are fulfilled concerning you." 

Scarcely he spoke or ere twin doves appeared 
From heaven descending on the verdant sward ; 
The mighty hero knew his mother's birds, 215 

And recognised and hailed with grateful words : 
" welcome Guides ! lead on, lead on the way 
To the rich branch and to the sacred spray ; 
And thou, O Goddess Mother ! aid thy son." 
He said and followed them. They gambolled on, 220 
Feeding and fluttering, till they reached the jaws 
Of pestilent Avernus ; without pause 
They rose aloft, then, swooping in air free, 
They lighted down upon the double tree, 
Whose flashing metal glittering 'midst the green 225 
Beamed in its native and its borrowed sheen ; 



Book VI. THE ^ENEIS. 157 

As in autumnal frosts the misletoe 

Enfolds the oak and clasps the rugged bough, 

As glittering 'midst its foster-parent trees 

It waves its croceate garb upon the breeze. 230 

With fervent grasp the prize iEneas won, 

And to the Sibyl's cave returned alone. 

Meantime the Trojans their sad task pursue, 

And urge the rites to dust departed due. 

A mighty pyre upon the shore assign, 235 

Chiefly of riven oak and resinous pine ; 

Branches verbenan compassing are wound, 

And gloomy cypresses are planted round ; 

His armour shines o'er all ; — the caldrons boil, 

They wash and they anoint with fragrant oil- 240 

The rigid corpse : the garments of the dead, 

The vest and the velamen, form its bed : 

They on the dust insensate drop the tear, 

And amid lamentations raise the bier, 

Sad ministration ! and apply the fires 245 

With eyes averted, custom of their sires ; 

Then cast their frankincence upon the pyre, 

And oils and fat of victims fed the fire — 

And when the flame had reconverted all 

To dust original, they quench the pile 250 

With wine libations : — reliques they collect, 

And carefully the mortal ash select. 

This, Choronaeus in a vase of brass 

Inurns, then thrice around they pass 



158 THE 2ENEIS. Book VI. 

Bearing pure waters, Choroneeus throws 255 

Libations round with sacred olive boughs, 

As speaking the last words he bade the Shade repose. 

iEneas raised the tomb, and with its lord 
His oar and sword and trumpet are immured — 
On Cape Misenus stands the mighty frame 260 

Immortalised, to endless time, the name. 

These rites performed, the chief the course pursued 

The Sibyl bade : in the deep solitude 

Of the Avernan wood, the cavern lies, 

Between the slumbering wave and precipice ; 265 

No bird supports its baneful atmosphere 

Nor can endure the vapours rising there, 

And thence the Greeks denominate that spot 

Avernus. Thither iEneas brought 

Four sable bulls ; on them the Sibyl sheds 270 

The wine libation, cropping from their heads 

The sacred locks ; those locks the flames devour, 

First offering to Hecate, dread power, 

Of Erebus and Heaven. 

Attendants bore 275 

Knives, and the chalices to catch the gore : 
iEneas sacrificed ; — a sable ewe, 
The Mother of the Eumenides unto, 
Nox, and her sister Terra ; to Proserpine 
A barren cow ; and lastly, on the shrine 280 

Of Dis, nocturnal sacrifice, he slays 
The steers, in undivided carcases, 
Forcing combustion with effunded oils. 
The morning sun broke forth upon their toils, 



Book VI. THE ^NEIS. 159 

Then the earth shook, the mountain bowed its head, 285 

And dogs invisible howled in the glade 

The Power approaching. " Avaunt, ye Shades profane," 

The Sibyl cried, " and shun this grove and reign : 

And thou, iEneas ! forward, seize the way, 

Unsheath thy sword and follow whilst we may : 290 

Dauntless thy soul and unappalled thy sight." 

She said, and plunged into that cave of night. 

Ye Gods ! whose stern and iron rule controls 

The silent shades and the departed souls, 

And Phlegethon and Chaos, grant that I may 295 

Unblamed, the secrets of your realms betray, 

Though earth and darkness hide. 

Darkling they passed 
Void plains of gloom, thro' empty realms, and vast 
Mansions of Dis untenanted : the way 
Obscured, as when her most malignant ray 300 

Pale Dian sheds ; when Jupiter embrues 
The vault of heaven above in misty dews, 
And from creation, night abstracts the hues. 
First, in the very jaws, and opening strait 
Of Orcus, Mourning and Kevenge await, 305 

And pale Disease, and miserable Age, 
And Want, and Fear, and Famine — dire presage 
Of Crime, — and Toil and Death, are there ; 
And Death's twin brother Sleep, and wasting War, 
And withering joys of Lust : on iron bed, 310 

Th' Eumenides and raving Discord spread 



160 THE ^NEIS. Book VI. 

Their limbs with knotted snakes, wound on their brows, 

Ensanguined. An elm is there whjch throws 

Its branches widely — where vain dreams abound 

Thick upon every leaf, and on the ground 315 

Indolence slumbers — 

And monster forms of race ambiguous, 

Centaurs and Scyllas, the huge Briareus 

And blatant brute Lernsean ; triple frame 

Of Geryon ; Chimaera breathing flame, 320 

Harpies and Gorgons. This assailant horde 

JEneas would have battled with the sword, 

But that his guide reminded him they were 

Bodiless forms, shapes of impassive air 

And all innocuous. 325 

Here the path was won 
Which leads unto Tartarean Acheron, 
Black Acheron, which turbulently raves, 
And in Cocytus disembogues its waves : 
Charon, sole ferryman, who stems that stream 
Of turbid whirlpool ; terrible and grim 330 

Is he, unkempt his frosty beard descends, 
And from a simple knot his garb depends 
Sordid and ragged : Senior he is, but such 
An age of vigour as the gods avouch ; 
And pride beams in his eye as he prevails, 335 

Urging his crazy bark and tattered sails 
Transporting Shades : and here the crowded ranks 
Of disembodied Shades suffused the banks, 
Matrons and men, and the more mighty Shades 
Of heroes and of youths, unmarried maids, 340 



Book VI. THE ^NEIS. 161 

And infants placed upon the funeral pyre 

By hands parental : — thick as when the quire 

Of migratory tribes their flight essay, 

Ere o'er the sea they take their restless way ; 

Thick as the yellow leaves that strew the wood 345 

In frosts autumnal ; e'en so thickly stood 

Upon the banks the miserable ghosts, 

Shivering in sight of the forbidden coasts. 

He the stern arbiter, now here, now there, 

Eeceives a ghost, but drives the rest to rear. 350 

Struck with the sight, iEneas, wondering said, 
" Virgin, say, why is this concourse led 
Thus crowding to the stream ? Tell me what they im- 
plore, 
Why some rejected are, some ferried o'er ? " 

Th' Eternal Maid replied : " Anchisiades, 355 

Approved of birth divine ! Cocytus 'tis, 

And Styx, you view ! Styx, whose divinity 

Binds in inviolate oath the Gods on high. 

The multitudes rejected are the souls 

Of the unsepulchred — Charon discerns, controls, 360 

Bears o'er the sepulchred, for none is borne 

Those waves across, who rests not in his urn ; 

A century of years, the Shade abides 

Expiatory term, on these repulsive sides." 

With smitten heart iEneas heard, and stayed 365 
His faltering step, as trembling he surveyed 
The myriads round, lacking the rituals due : 
Leucaspis and Orontes then he knew 

M 



162 THE ^NEIS. 2 Book VI. 

Whose bark and Lycian crew, the Libyan wave 

And Auster whelmed in an unhallowed grave. 370 

And Palinurus, who what time he held 

The watch nocturnal, and the field beheld 

Of spangled heaven, fell in the Tyrrhene Sea : 

In sullen discontent its gloomy way 

The Shade pursued : iEneas, thro' the mist 375 

His pilot, hardly recognised, addressed : 

" Palinurus ! what God proved our foe, 

Depriving us of thee ? I fain would know, 

For only in thy doom the Oracle 

Hath failed its promised purpose to fulfil. 380 

Apollo promised, that in safety thou 

Shouldst touch Ausonia, but it was not so." 

" 'Twas so, my chief, Anchisiacles," 
The Shade replied, " with life I passed the seas. 
Phcebus deceived us not : by chance, not fate, 385 

From the high poop I fell precipitate, 
And in my grasp the tiller torn away 
Upheld me safely on the watery way ; 
By the rough billows of the main I swear 
Your danger, and not mine, was all my care, 390 

Lest that the guiding ship deprived of me, 
And helmless, so should founder on the sea. 
Three nights tempestuous onward I was borne, 
Lashed by each wave : the fourth returning morn 
I saw Italia, and made its strand 395 

Alive, unhurt ; the dwellers on that land 
Slew me resistless, overworn with toil ; 
Barbarians slew me in vain hope of spoil. 



Book VI. THE JENEIS. 163 

Now is my body cast upon the beach, 

Or tossed on billows : but 0, I beseech, 400 

By the blue heavens, and by the vital air, 

By thine own sire, Ascanius thine heir, 

my unconquered chief ! retrack the sea, 

Seek the Velinan port and bury me ; 

Free me from this unutterable woe, 405 

Or since by leave divine thou treadst below 

These dismal regions, aid me, bear me o'er, 

Lend me thy hand, thou canst, — on yonder shore ; 

Let me repose in death ! " 

" Unhappy shade, 
Ketract that wish," replied the immortal Maid, 410 

" Thou may'st not, Palinurus, canst not meet 
The dread Eumenides, nor with unhallowed feet 
Tread yonder shores : thy destined term attend. 
Cease to lament, nor vainly hope to bend 
The Fates inflexible to human prayer. 415 

Yet have I comfort for thee, in thy care ; 
Thy foes pursued by Heaven's avenging hand, 
Throughout the length and breadth of their whole land, 
Shall expiate their deed, appease thy ghost, 
And build thy tumulus with gifts of cost ; 420 

And nominate that fatal promontory 
Cape Palinurus evermore from thee." 
This soothed the Shade, he joyed to find his name 
Linked to the earth in everlasting fame. 

Now on the brink of Acheron they stood : 425 

When the stern power that stems the Stygian flood 

m2 



164 THE yENEIS. Book VI. 

Saw them advancing through his silent reign, 

With rising wrath he cried, " Your steps restrain, 

Whoe'er ye be, in arms approaching here ; 

Hold ! I command ye, and your aim declare : 430 

This is the realm of Shades, nor do I freight 

My bark with human clay or living weight ; 

'Tis true, too true, unwillingly I bore 

Alcides, Theseus, and Pirithous o'er, 

Men all of heavenly birth and matchless might ! 435 

One dragged old Cerberus to upper light, 

And Theseus and Pirithous assailed 

The bride of Pluto, and well nigh prevailed." 

Briefly replied the Amphrysian prophetess, — 

" Charon be calmed, no guile do we profess ; 440 

Still may the chaste bride grace her uncle's throne, 

Still let the eternal janitor make moan, 

And quell the Shades : with soul magnanimous 

Trojan iEneas passes Erebus 

To see his sire : if virtue strike no chord 445 

Eespondent in thy breast, thou wilt accord 

Grace to his gift." She waved the golden bough. 

Then sunk his heady rage, full well he knew 

The venerated gift so rarely viewed below. 

Long time he gazed, then shoved his dusky prow 450 

To shore, ejecting from their seats the ranks 

Of settled ghosts ; he cleared the vessel's banks 

And closed the hatches : then took the mortal freight 

The ponderous iEneas, the hulk beneath his weight 



Book VI. THE MSEIQ. 165 

Groaned and sucked in the Stygian wave. They passed, 
The Sibyl and the man, those waters vast, [455 

And safely landed on the further bank, 
Midst sedge and slime, and herbage foul and dank. 

Kecumbent in his den there Cerberus lay, 
Sprawling his limbs, and barring all the way ; 460 

His viperous locks all bristled into life, 
From triple maw pouring the sounds of strife. 
To him, an opiate mess the Sibyl threw — 
Honey and meal drugged with Lethsean dew ; 
He took the pleasing bait, and on the ground 465 

His monster bulk was stretched in sleep profound. 
Him overcome, they passed the portal cave, 
And left, for ever left, th' irremeable wave. 

That portal past, straightway the bitter wail 

Of infant sobs and cries their ears assail, 470 

Those immaturely snatched to utter night 

From the maternal breast and pleasing light. 

And next are those by law unjustly slain ; 
Here uncondemned, for trial they remain. 
Minos is judge, he holds the absolving urn, 475 

And summons silent spirits, to discern 
From their own lips, their lives and crimes to learn. 

The next are those who madly cast away 
Heaven's gift of life : self-sacrificed are they. 
Now fain would they assume, resume full fain 480 

A life of woe, and poverty, and pain ; 



166 THE .ENEIS. Book VI. 

Too late, too late ; the ruthless fates oppose, 
And Stygian streams with ninefold coils enclose. 

In order next the " mournful fields " extend : 
Those brought by love to an untimely end 485 

Inhabit there, in glens and myrtle groves, 
Retaining still in death their mortal loves. 
Phaedra, and Procris, and Pasiphae, 
Evadne, and sad Eriphyle, she 

Still pointing to the parricidal wound, 490 

They all are there : and Caeneus there is found, 
Her female features and her sex resumed ; 
There, too, to herd with these condemned and doomed 
Laodameia. 

There, too, with bosom gored, 
Phoenician Dido the deep grove explored. 495 

The Trojan hero saw the Shade flit by, 
And recognised it through obscurity, 
Altho' the form was shadowy and whist 
As the new rising moon, obscured by mist : 
With bursting tears, and heart that heaved with 
care, • 500 

" Unhappy Dido ! do I meet thee here ? " 
The Trojan said : " then rumour was too true, 
And your own blood did your own hand embrue ; 
And I the cause : by all the Gods I swear, 
By the bright firmament and solid sphere, 505' 

And faith of earth above, thee I implore, — 
Unwillingly, Shade ! I left your shore, 



Book VI. THE iENEIS. 167 

By Fate compelled, and by our adverse Gods, 

By whose commands I seek these dread abodes. 

I hoped — I vainly hoped — the weight of woe 510 

Had fallen on me, and you were spared the blow. 

Nay, shun me not, nor disregard the vows 

Of this last interview that Fate allows." 

With such persuasive words the prince essayed, 
And mingled tears to move the sullen Shade ; 515 

The sullen Shade regarded them with stare 
Vacant as that the Parian marbles bear ; 
Then turned away, inimical, its head, 
And to its own umbrageous valley tied, 
To where Sichseus in the myrtle grove 520 

Responded every hallowed wish of love. 
The troubled Trojan followed thro' the gloom 
Her parting steps, and sorrowed o'er her doom. 

Next, and the last in order, is the plain 

Called " Ultimate," where dwell the warriors slain. 525 

Tydeus, and pale Adrastus there they found, 

Parthenopseus, warrior renowned, 

And hosts of slain Dardanidse, for whom 

A grateful country wept and raised the tomb. 

iEneas groaned in soul, beholding thus 530 

Glaucus, and Me don, and Thersilochus, 

And brothers Antenorides. His spear 

Idaeus aimed, and whirled his biga there ; 

And Ceres' priest, Polyboetes ; they press, 

And sounds inadequate their joy express ; 535 



168 THE -ffiJEIS. Book VI. 

They stay his footsteps, curious to know 

The cause of visitation. But the Argive foe, 

Agamemnonian phalanxes, they ran, 

They fled the flashing armour and the man, 

E'en as they fled in life, their lives to save 540 

And refuge them on the protecting wave ; 

So now they fled, and raised a cry of fear, 

Feeble midst utter silence ! And 'twas there, 

With limbs all hacked, covered with wounds all raw, 

Priamides Dei'phobus he saw — 545 

His frame abused by most inhuman foes ; 

His hands lopped off, his lips, and ears, and nose 

All cut away ; scarce could the Shade be known, 

Striving to hide what he could not disown. 

iEneas spoke, " Martial De'iphobus 550 

Of Teucer's race ! what hand abused you thus, 

What heart devised this wretched punishment ? 

Fame ran, that with a glorious slaughter spent, 

On that sad night you met a warrior's doom. 

On the Ehoetean shore I raised your tomb, 555 

Deposed your armour there, and to that shore 

Your name and fame attach for evermore. 

Your dust, my friend, your dust I could not save, 

Else had it also rested in the grave." 

Priamides replied, " Thy pious thought 560 

Did all it could, nor has omitted ought ; 
You see my fate ; Lacsena's wrongs you see, 
These are the proofs : my utter misery ! 



Book VI. THE ^ENEIS. 169 

Too well we know — that forget we might ! — 

All the false hopes and revels of that night 565 

When we installed the horse arniiferous, 

The steed of doom, in royal Perganius. 

Then she feigned orgies, then she bore the flames, 

She led the choirs of Bacchanalian dames, — 

She from the citadel let loose our foes. 570 

With labour worn, I meantime drank repose [lord ; 

In sleep, death's counterfeit: 'twas she disarmed her 

She from my slumbering head removed my sword, 

'Twas she invited Menelaus, and 

Betrayed me sleeping to his murdering band. 575 

(Truly in hope by infamy to prove 

Worthy of him, and so regain his love.) 

Ever the first in crime, iEolides,* 

He slew me sleeping. Avenging deities, 

Retributory powers ! if just my prayers, 580 

May a like fate, and a like lot, be theirs. 

But thou, goddess-born, in turn declare 

Is it misfortune's chance that sends thee here, 

Or doth the will of Heaven permit to thee 

This passage thro' our realms of misery ? " 585 

Whilst thus they talked, Aurora's roseate car 

Had circled half the sphere in skies afar : 

Impatient at delay, the Sibyl broke 

Upon their counsels and reminding spoke : 

" Night rushes on, iEneas, and the space 590 

Of time allowed you lose. Behold the place 

* Ulysses : so called in opprobrium, as supposed son of Sisyphus. 



170 THE ^NEIS. Book VI. 

Where the broad road divides itself in twain, 

The right, to mighty Dis, and to the reign 

Elysian is onrs — the left still tends below 

To Tartarus and realms of pain and woe." 595 

Answered De'iphobus, " Do not upbraid, 

I will depart at once, O sacred maid ; 

I will depart, and patiently attend 

My term of darkness. Go, my noblest friend, 

Go and fulfil thy fortunes prosperous, 600 

Pride of our race and glory of our house ; " 

He said, and turned away. 

* iEneas turned, 

And 'neath the left hand precipice discerned 
Huge habitations triply girt with walls, 605 

And flanked by fiery Phlegethon, which falls 
Roaring and flaming down its rocky bed. 
The adamantine portal reared its head, 
The columns stern and iron turrets high 
Mock human might and powers of heaven defy. 
With gory robe, Tisiphone bears rule, 610 

With ward unslumbering, in its vestibule ; 
From whence are heard groans and inflicted pains, 
The clang of iron and the clash of chains. 

iEneas paused, bewildered at the din ; 
" Maiden," he said, " what woe exists therein, 615 

Or what may sounds so horrible betide ? " 
" Son of Anchises," said the holy guide, 
" Those impious realms are ever barred to us ; 
Once, and but once, the Queen of Tartarus 



Book VI. THE ^ENEIS. 171 

When to my hand she gave th' Avernan reign, 620 

Showed me the horrors of that dread domain. 

Tis here the Gnossian Khadamanthus reigns, 

Judge of the crimes, awarder of the pains ; 

Here every wrong and every crime which went 

On earth unpunished, bears its punishment. 625 

Over the wretch condemned, Tisiphone 

Exulting stands and waves the snakes on high ; 

Prone falls the scourge, the Furies are at hand, 

And then, then only, do those doors expand 

Wide on their hinges : look and you may see 630 

The warder in her gate, Tisiphone, 

And her attendant ministers of sin : 

Dreadful ! but far more dreadful are within ! 

Fifty-fold Hydra ! whose huge coils below 

The gulf Tartarean extend, as low 635 

As Tartarus itself from highest heaven ; 

And to those lowest depths Tartarean driven 

Lies the Titanian progeny, first born 

Of Terra, by immortals overthrown : 

There, too, the Twins Aloidan, who strove 640 

Heaven to assail, and to contend with Jove : 

There, too, I saw Salmoneus, who sustained 

Vengeance immortal ; him it was who feigned 

Himself to be the Thunderer, and trod 

Thro' Greece and gaping Elis, as the God ; 645 

Mocking the thunders and the bolts above, 

And claiming honours only due to Jove. 

Madman and fool ! to think that hoofs of brass 

And rumbling cars might for the Thunders pass — 

Inimitable Thunder ! 650 



172 THE iENEIS. Book VI. 

It was no flaring torch or smoking brand 

Descended from the Sire eternal's hand, 

Which smote him headlong. There, too, the foster son 

Of Terra, our great mother, Tityon ; 

Stretched over acres nine, upon his breast - 655 

The vulture sits, gorging his endless feast ; 

No rest, no respite, still the demon feeds, 

Still grows the liver, still the bosom bleeds. 

Why should I name the filthy Lapithse, 
Ixion, or Pirithous, who see 660 

From couch of gold beneath, the threat'ned fall 
Of the unbalanced rock ; the Furies haul 
The feast untasted from their famished maws, 
And thrust the flaming torch within their jaws. 

There, too, is he, who living smote his sire, 665 

Hated his brother, cheated of its hire 

Laborious poverty ; he who denied 

His buried lucre to his friend in need ; 

Many are they. There are adulterers, 

And they, who living fostered civil wars 670 

To their own ends, 'gainst sworn allegiance ; 

And he who sold his country or his prince, 

Traitors and perjurors ; they who the laws 

Made and unmade, and wrested to their cause ; 

He, who in hymenseals horrible 675 

His daughter's bed defiled ; all such in full 

Fierce and remorseless vengeance, expiate 

The mortal deed, in everlasting fate — 



Book VI. THE ^NEIS. 173 

What fate, what vengeance ? ask me not, — 'tis bliss 

Not to be cognizant of woe like this. 680 

Some roll the shapeless rock, and others bound 

To spokes of wheels are ever whirling round ; 

There Theseus sits, and he must sit for aye ; 

There Phlegyas also shouts eternally, 

His admonition startling those abodes, — 685 

' Mortals be just and reverence the Gods.' 

Had I hundred tongues and lungs of steel 

Man could not comprehend, nor words reveal, 

Each form and process of inflicted woe 

Due to successful crime, and urged by fiends below." 690 

The Sibyl paused : resuming said, " On, on, 
Time flies, iEneas, and our task's undone ; 
I see the walled Cyclopian galleries,* 
And 'neath its arch the mighty portal rise, 
Whereat we must present our golden spray 695 

Which opens to our steps the happier way." 
That threshold gained, thereon iEneas stood, 
Sprinkled his body with the living flood, 
And on the lintel hung the branch of gold. 
Then straightly did its mighty gates unfold 700 

To flowery plains and regions of the blest, 
Groves of beatitude and realms of rest ; 
Where purer rays and balmier breezes flow, 
And their own sun and stars the spirits know ; 
They, green arenas on, contending stand 705 

In emulative sport, or wrestle on the sand ; 

* The Cyclopian walls of Tiryns and the portal of the treasury of 
Mycenae are here alluded to. 



174 THE iENEIS. Book VI. 

Some lead the dance, some chant the lays of eld : 

There they the Thracian bard and seer beheld 

In flowing robes ; the ivory plectrum rings, 

Or more melodious fingers swept the strings, 710 

As he, discriminating, woke the fire 

And notes immortal of the seven strung lyre. 

There were Troy's sons, heroes magnanimous : 

Ilus, Assaracus, and Dardanus, 

Born in her earlier and her happier days. 715 

Pitched were their spears, freely their coursers graze, 

Their chariots empty stand, for still the love 

Of arms and chariots which they owned above ; 

Now free from cares, beyond the tomb remained, 

And hopes and joys the happy Shades retained. 720 

Wide on the right and left the feast is spread, 

They shout glad Paeans from their mossy bed, 

And feast in balmiest breathing laurel groves, 

Thro' which, its way to heaven wending, roves 

Mighty Eridanus. 725 

And there abide 
Who for their country's freedom fought and died ; 
Chaste priests, and pious prophets, such as were 
Worthy the will of Phoebus to declare ; 
The mechanician studious for the good 
Of fellow-man ; and souls of gratitude. 730 

As they advanced, the spirits pressed around, 
Their brows with wreaths and snowy fillets bound. 
Singling Mussbus out, amidst the rest 
Conspicuous, the Sibyl him addressed : 



Book VI. THE JSNEIS. 175 

'Say happy Spirit, tell me noblest seer, 735 

Where doth Anchises dwell, or dwells he here ? 
To him, thro' gloomy Erebus, we come." 
The Shade replied, " We own no certain home : 
In shady grove, or verdant mead we lie, 
Or on the bank where the brook bubbles by : 740 

But, ah ! I see your hearts throb at delay, 
Then follow me, and I will show the way." 
He said, and led them to a rising brow 
From whence they viewed the glittering plain below. 

In a secluded vale Anchises sate ; 745 

And round, his future progeny await, — 

The shades of those doomed to a second birth 

Again to breathe and militate on earth. 

He took their census and their lots reviewed 

Of good and ill — fortune's vicissitude. 750 

But when he saw his son approaching there, 

He rose, and casting both his hands in air, 

He raised his voice and with a thankful tear — 

" Come you at last," he said, " to me at last ! 

And has your piety the way surpassed ? 755 

Is it once more accorded, my son, 

To hear your voice and gaze your face upon ? 

Tho' long foreknown, expected long ago, 

Is my unshaken faith rewarded so ? 

Yet thro' what perils and what labours run 760 

Do I once more behold you, O my son ! 

None greater, ftone more fearful than you bore, 

I feared that trial, on the Libyan shore." 



176 THE iENEIS. Book VI. 

.ZEneas answered, " Often, my sire, 

Your guardian spirit warned me to enquire, 765 

Wherefore our fleet rocks on the Tyrrhene main. 

But, father ! why, ah ! why dost thou refrain 

The grasp of love, withhold the fond embrace 

Due to thy son ? " He spoke, as clown his face 

Kollecl the big tear : his ardent arms he threw 770 

The shadowy form around, which flitted thro' 

The mortal grasp, as doth the viewless wind, 

Or midnight dream fantastic of the mind. 

In its still channel, through umbrageous groves, 
Circling the realms of bliss, there Lethe roves ; 775 

And on its banks, ranks upon ranks of ghosts, 
Nations and men, in congregated hosts. 

As o'er the meads, as round the lilies fair, 
Hover the bees upon the perfumed air 
Murmuring their gladness, so by Lethe's bed 780 

Hovered the happy ghosts. .ZEneas said, 
Eemafking these : " Father ! vouchsafe to say, 
Wherefore, upon yon banks the spirits stray ? " 
" My son," Anchises said, " those doomed by fate 
Again on earth to bear a mortal state, 785 

Here drink Lethsean draughts, by which they drown, 
To blank oblivion, all memory down. 
Now is the hour, and this the place, where you 
Permitted are the future race to view, 
Italia's sons, and our posterity." 790 

'•' Father," iEneas said, " Oh, can it be ? * 



Book VI. THE ^JSFLXS. 177 

Is't credible immortal souls can bear 

The load of human dust and mortal air." 

" Listen, my son," Anchises said, " the while 

Nature, and nature's laws, my words unveil. 795 

This heaven, this earth, and airs that liquid are, 
The lucid moon and the Titanian star, 
One universal Spirit sways and rules : 
That undivided Mind, connects, controls 
And animates the whole ; and thence began 800 

Eaces terrestrial, from created man 
To brutes and monsters of the deep, which share 
That gift of elemental fire they bear, 
So much as clay and bodies doomed to die, 
Can be attempered flame etherial by. 805 

Thence hopes and joys and fears and griefs arise 
In human breasts, where the soul hidden lies. 
Nor when the spirit quits its mortal coil, 
Can it depose inoculated soil, 

The growth of human frailty ; and thence 810 

Purgations need and realms of penitence ; 
And water lustrates, and winds purify, 
And fire purges mortal sins away. 
None is exempted ; for that taint of sin 
Must be purged from each Manes, ere within 815 

The bounds Elysian it can pass — and, ah, 
To realms of bliss, how few admitted are ! 

Here we remain until revolving time, 
His orbit finished, blots all mortal crime ; 
When the pure elemental fire shall rise, 820 

And the freed spirit re-assert its skies ; 



178 THE ^NEIS. Book VI. 

A thousand years they tarry, when the god 

Coerces with the soul-cornpelling rod 

To Lethe's wave ; they quaff oblivion down, 

And wish for life, and bodies of their own." 825 

Anchises ceased, and straight accompanied 

By his great son and the divining maid, 

He led a tumulus unto, to show 

The busy ranks of ghosts which stood below. 

" And now behold," he said, " before thy face 830 

The Dardan blood shall pass ; Italia's race, 

Illustrious spirits, glory of our name, 

Whilst I expound their fortunes and their fame. 

And first, yon youth, who grasps his unstained spear, 
He is the first on earth to reappear, 835 

Mingling the Dardan and Italian blood ; 
Born posthumous, and nurtured in the wood 
Of Alba, thence named Sylvius : he shall spring 
"From thee and from Lavinia ; born a king, 
Kings shall descend from him, in turn to own 840 

In Alba Longa the Ascanian throne. 
Next Phocas stands ; then Capys, Numitor, 
Sylvius iEneas, thy name to restore, 
Who barred in youth from Alba's throne shall claim, 
With labours like to thine, like pious fame. 845 

Mark their bold aspects : brows encircled all 
With wreaths of oak, the civic coronal ; 
They shall Nomentum build, and Gabii, 
Fidsenae's towers, and Castrum Inu'i, 



Book VI. THE ^NEIS. 179 

Bola and Cora, and Pometia's walls, 850 

And high Collatia ; all whose citadels 
Shall into eminence and glory grow, 
Altho' rude crags and unknown deserts now. 

Behold ! behold ! Mavortian Komulus ! 
Deduced thro' Ilia from Assaracus, 855 

Upon his crested helm, how glory glows : 
'Tis Jove himself, 'tis Jove that glory throws 
O'er his majestic brow, beneath whose auspices 
Throned on her seven hills, shall Rome arise 
The mistress of the world and rival of the skies. 860 

Eoma divine ! glad in thy progeny, 
Ay, glad as Berecynthia, whene'er she, 
Sceptered and turret-crowned o'er Phrygia driven 
From her proud chariot views her peopled heaven ; 
So shalt thou view an equal progeny, 865 

All sons of Heaven and tenants of the sky. 

In ow gaze, my son, upon the Roman race. 
Lo, Csesar ! In his features how we trace 
The race Julian. Lo, his dynasty : 
And first the man long promised from on high, 870 

Augustus Caesar, son of Heaven, to whom 
The golden age, when Saturn will resume 
Dominion over Latian realms, is due : 
Yes, Ceesar, the wide world is due to you ; 
From furthest Ind to Garamantuan plains, 875 

Where Atlas, past the solar path, sustains 
The vault of Heaven ; thence to reigns Caspian, 
Frighted by prophecies, and plains Maaotian, 

n2 



180 THE ^ENEIS. Book VI. 

And southward to Egyptian sevenfold Nile ; 

Truly Alcides bore not nobler toil ; 880 

Altho' accorded 'twas, tho' he subdued 

The brazen footed stag, and freed the wood 

Erymanthine of its pest, and Hydra slew ; 

Nor thou, victorious Liber, conqueror, who 

With tigers fawning beneath ivied reins, 885 

Descended Nysa's crest from Indian plains. 

And dare we doubt the meed to virtue given ; 
Dare we distrust the promises of Heaven ? 

Now mark, my son, him of the thoughtful brow ; 

With olive crowned and locks and beard of snow, 890 

Bearing the symbols : from Sabine Cures called 

And small paternal farm, to be installed 

Rome's legislative king ; and see again, 

Tullus, to break the slumbers of his reign, 

And lead the Romans to the fields of war ; 895 

Next Ancus, who to suffrage popular 

Shall cringe and place regality on par. 

Next the Tarquinii, and near them stands 

Avenging Brutus, with the lictor bands ; 

He the first Consul of the Commonweal 900 

With his own fasces, his own voice must heal, 

With his own blood, his country's outraged laws, 

And doom his traitor sons in freedom's cause. 

Patriot ! howe'er posterity may blame, 

Thy country and stern virtue laud thy name. 905 

The Decii, Drusi, and Torquatus view 

With his stained fasces ; and Camillus, too, 



Book VL THE ^NEIS. 181 

Marcus Camillus rescuino; from the Gaul 
The standards and unransomed Capitol. 

Shades of futurity ! and can it be 910 

So peaceful and concordant here, that ye — 
That ye must battle, that ye must endure 
The bane of civil strife, of bloody war ? 
From Alpine passes must the sire descend, 
And at Pharsalia, must the son attend 915 

Armed from the East ? O sons of Borne, forbear 
Your country's heart with civil war to tear ! 
And thou the first, thou from Olympus won, 
Cast down that bloodied weapon, my son ! 
Have ye no conquests, do your triumphs cease ? 920 
Bends not the car beneath the spoils of Greece ? 
Bows not th' Acropolis Corinthian to 
The Koman Capitol ? Behold the victor go 
Laden with Argive spoil ; 'tis he shall lower 
The pride of Argos, break Mycenae's power ; 925 

Achilles' sons, the race iEacidan, 
Shall cancel with their blood Minerva's ban 
And Troy's revenge. 
Cato, great Cato, can I pass by thee, 
Cossus, or thou ; or noble Gracchi, ye ; 930 

The Scipios twain, the thunderbolts of war, 
Scourges of Libya ; or Fabrieius poor ; 
Or Cincinnatus, taken from the plough ; 
Or, noblest of the noble Fabii, thou 
Whose dauntless heart, in her adversity 935 

Shall save the realm ; thou, Maximus, art he. 



182 THE ^NEIS. Book VI, 



.•- 



Yea, Rome, though others may thy fame surpass 

For sculptured marble and for foundered brass ; 

Others plead better at the wrangling bar, 

Describe the heavens and number every star ; 940 

But, Eoman, rule ; teach nations to obey, 

Be yours the science of imperial sway ; 

But in your proud pre-eminence beware, 

Subject the proud, the proud subjected spare." 

Father Anchises paused : high'was his tone 945 

When he resumed, " Behold yon Shade, my son ! 
Marcellus, glorious with triumphal wars, 
The first of men, and chief of conquerors. 
Of Roman ills, he shall reverse the tide, 
Scatter the Punic and the Gallic pride, 95 J 

And three times victor, to Quirinus yield 
Three several times, spoils of the battle field." 

Anchises ceased. iEneas fixed his sight, 

Meantime, upon a youth in armour dight, 

But on whose forehead and within whose eye 955 

Sat carking grief and a deep melancholy. 

" Father," iEneas said, " I fain would Imow 

Who that youth is, of the majestic brow. 

Is he our issue ? how his comrades crowd 

His footsteps round, and how his aspect, proud 960 

Marcellus, is as thine ; but, ah, too, how, 

Doth sombre night reign on his noble brow ! " 

Faltered Anchises' voice as he replied : 

" Seek not to know, my son, what grief would hide, 



Book VL THE iENEIS. 183 

Fate only shows, to snatch again from earth, 965 

That soul of honour and that beam of worth. 

Are the gods fearful, lest the Eoman state 

With blessings permanent should grow too great ? 

How shall the Campus Martius wail his doom, 

And Tiber murmur sorrows round his tomb, 970 

The noblest scion of our house to mourn ; 

Whom piety and ancient faith adorn 

And martial prowess in the listed field, 

On foot, or horse alike, all arms to wield. 

Thou, noblest boy, except by fate's decree, 975 

Marcellus had survived himself in thee. 

Tarry the while, with lavish hands I strew 

Lilies as fair, blossoms as bright of hue : 

Prescient, I mourn, foreknowing I bequeath 

Gifts to his future shade and weep his early death." 980 

"As thus through regions of the blest they strayed 
And viewed the plain and marked each nobler Shade, 
Anchises taught his son ; his words inflame 
A genial soul to energy and fame ; 
As he discoursed of wars and fields to come — 985 

The realm Laurentian and Imperial Kome ; 
Warned him of future perils to be run, 
And taught him what to dare, and what to shun. . 

Twaiu are the gates of Somnus : one, 'tis said 
Of lucid horn, lets forth the sanctioned shade ; 990 

One of opaque and polished ivory, 
Thro' which unsanctioned apparitions fly. 



184 THE ^NEIS. Book VI. 

Bidding a last farewell, Anchises led 

Thither his offspring and the holy maid : 

The gate eburnian them restored to day. 995 

Straight to the fleet iEneas took his way, 

Weighed, sailed, and anchor'd in Caieta's bay. 



Book VII. THE 2ENEIS. 185 



BOOK VII. 

And thou, Caieta ! nurse iEneian, gave 

The land a name which gave to thee a grave : 

Thy name and dust deposed upon its shore 

To great Hesperia yield one honour more. 

iEneas raised the tumulus, nor failed 5 

One pious rite, or ere he weighed and sailed — 

Sighed the nocturnal breeze and Dian bright 

Shed on the glittering wave reflected light, 

By which the shores Circsean they attained ; 

Where dwelt the mighty child of Sol, and reigned 10 

'Midst groves to mortals inaccessible, 

Where ceaseless song and notes melodious swell, 

As to the cedar torch, and sweet perfume, 

Her damsels ply the needle and the loom. 

But whence groans too are heard : the lion's roar, 15 

Chafing its chain 'midst darkness, and the boar 

And wolf and angry bear, combining, fright 

The native silence and the calm of night : 

Human they were, but the Circsean feast, 

And spell and drug, transformed from man to beast 20 

The form divine : 

Which lest the pious Trojans should endure, 

Entering the port or touching on its shore, 

With power divine the ruler of the sea, 

With breakers barred the fatal promontory, 25 



186 THE ^NEIS. Book VII. 

And bore with tides the vessels to the main. 

And when Aurora rising blushed again, 

And the fierce chariot mounted on its way, 

Lulled was the air, and hushed the ocean lay — 

Then looking forth, the mighty oaks which grew 30 

Where Tiber rolls his yellow waters through 

His banks and sands to ocean : marking there 

The flocks of sea-fowl darkening the air, 

Disporting on the flood with soothing song ; 

The chief commanded, and they turned among 35 

The trees, which o'er that grateful haven hung. 

Bise, Erato ! the state of things declare 

Of ancient Latium — who its monarchs were 

When Tyrrhene waves were vexed by stranger oars, 

And Latium refuged exiled warriors. 40 

Awhile, Goddess, aid me and inspire 

Whilst I divulge the cause of war and ire ; 

Divulge the primal causes which impelled 

The Tyrrhene leaders to the battle field, 

When as one man Hesperia rushed to war. 45 

Now than of yore the theme is weightier far, 

As I advance, it grows ; Goddess, speed the car ! 

Bless'd with long peace and a paternal reign, 
Latinus swayed the cities of the plain. 
The nymph Marica, so 'tis said and sung, 50 

Bare him to Faunus : he from Picus sprung ; 
Picus from Saturn, when the earth was young. 
But 'twas the will of Heaven, that issue male 
To King Latinus and his house should fail ; 



Book VII. THE ^NEIS. 187 

One daughter only 'scaped the early doom, 55 

Consigning all her brothers to the tomb ; 

Who, now mature in years and womanhood, 

By many a Latin suitor prince was wooed : 

Chief above all, in person and in worth 

Turnus, of ancient house and regal birth ; 60 

For whom the queen all openly declared, 

But Heaven withstood and sacred portents barred. 

In the palatial precincts, far from view, 

Worshipped with holiest awe, a laurel grew. 

Fostered it had been ere the circling wall, 65 

Built by Latinus, fenced the citadel. 

Sacred to Phcebus 'twas ; and thence the style, 

Laurentian, of its habitants somewhile. 

It happened then, on the etherial breeze 
Borne thro' the void, a mighty swarm of bees 70 

Down-lighting, with their feet combining, hung 
From the tall apex, whence they knitted clung. 
Again the seer expounded, and he said, 
" It bodes a foreign bridegroom — hither led 
With forces from a foreign land, to dwell 75 

And domineer within this citadel." 

Again, the maid Lavinia, by her sire 
Who sacrificed, with incense fed the fire. 
When, ominous, flames in their sacred jet 
Seized on her Latin gems and coronet, 80 

Played 'midst her hair, its ornaments their prey, 
Ere the vulcanian element away 
Burst thro' the dome and sought its native day. 



188 THE -ZENEIS. Book VII. 

Again the seer expounded : and lie said, 

" Honour and glory wait upon the maid, 85 

War to the Latins, to Laurentians war." 

Latinus sought the fane oracular 
Of Faunus his prophetic sire. It stood 
Th' Albunean grove within, by fount and wood 
Where spreads Mephitis round his baneful fume ; 90 
And where and whence (Enotrians ask their doom 
From dubious response and from dark replies : 
Thither, the votary at midnight hies ; 
He slays the woolly victims, spreads the fleece, 
Lays down his aching head and sleeps in peace. 95 

Sleeping he views the spectres wandering past, 
He hears their voices borne upon the blast, 
He communes with the gods, advice demands, 
And, from Avernus, Acheron responds. 

There with his offering and supplicant, 100 

A hecatomb of sheep, Father Latinus went : 
The hundred fleeces on the ground he spread 
And slept thereon : forthwith the response sped : 
" Refrain, my son, by marriage to combine 
Thy house Laurentian and the Latin line, 105 

The Latin hymenaeals are unblest ; 
Thy future son shall come, a foreign guest 
Approved by Heaven : to whom and to our seed 
One universal empire is decreed, 

Of all that Phoebus from on high surveys, 110 

Of earthly kingdoms and their subject seas." 

These midnight admonitions the rash king 
Divulged aloud — of woe the fruitful spring ; 



Book VII. THE ^NEIS. 189 

« 

The race Ausonian heard, whilst to their shore 
Laomedontian youth their vessels moor. 115 

iEneas, and the peers, lulus young, 

Reposed their limbs the mighty oaks among. 

Upon the sward the feast of cakes was spread, 

Mended, with native fruits, the cereal bread. 

The fruits consumed, forthwith the hungry band, 120 

Jove so decreed it, with audacious hand 

And tooth, broke round and square-crossed cakes : * the 

bread 
Whereoff, as dedicated plates, they fed. 

Ascanius took the word, and smiling, said, 

'* Behold we eat the tables whence we fed." 125 

He spoke unwittingly, but every word 

Was fraught with fate : Father iEneas heard, 

He heard and rose ; silent he stood awhile, 

Then, " Hail ! promised land," he said ; " all hail ! 

Gods of my country : Trojan deities, 130 

Here is your refuge, here our country is, 

'Tis manifest ; ambiguous no more 

Anchises' speech : ' When on a foreign shore, 

Coerced by famine, ye on tables feed, 

There is the land and resting-place decreed. 135 

Then are your wanderings over : but prepare 

Your city walls the brunt of war to bear.' 

Behold the thing foretold and hour are come, 

And ended are our wanderings wearisome. 

* The liba, cake of salted meal, round, and marked with a cross, appa- 
rently, symbolising the sacred board and salt ? 



190 THE ^ENEIS. Book VII. 

« 

Therefore arise, and with the breaking day 140 

We will explore the land ; we will survey 

Its walls and their inhabitants : but now 

Libate to Jupiter, and pay the vow ; 

And let my sire Anchises be addressed 

With wine and food, invoking him as guest." 145 

He spoke, and bound his brows with oaken boughs 

To Heaven and local genii offering vows, 

Tellus, primeval power, and — yet unknown, 

The fluvial nymphs, Nox, and the starry Zone, 

Phrygian Cybele, and Idsean Jove, 150 

And parents twain, from high the queen of love, 

And sire from Erebus : 

The sire omnipotent 
Thundered above — the bolt thro' heaven went, 
And thrice it flew and thrice around it rolled, 
Involving heaven in purple light and gold. 155 

The rumour ran that, Trojan fates fulfilled, 
The destined hour was come the walls to build : 
To hope and gladness they their hearts resign, 
And feast with joy and drain the mighty wine. 
And with the morrow's dawn, in diverse bands, 160 

They sought the cities and explored the lands 
Where the stern Latins dwelt, and pierced the brake 
From Tiber's flood to far Numicia's lake. 
One hundred orators deputed were 
To proffer friendship, peaceful gifts to bear ; 165 

And crowned with olive, proud of honour high 
They left the fleet to do their embassy. 



Book VII. THE ^SNEIS. 191 

iEneas ploughed the fosse, on war intent, 

He gave the plan of mound and battlement ; 

Their earliest Latin seat and settlement. 170 

Meantime the Trojans neared the dwelling-place, 
And warlike turrets of the Latin race. 

Before the walls the youth in martial train 
With horse and cars contended on the plain ; 
They bent the stubborn bow aud cast the spear, 175 

And in the race beut in their fleet career. 

Forthwith a horseman to Latinus told 
That warriors, foreign garbed, of aspect bold 
Approached : he bade them conduct have, 
And in his father's hall he audience gave. 180 

His father's royal hall which rose in air 
Girt with a hundred columns, nobly fair — 
Topping the town : but loftier than its frame, 
Its sacred grove and its religious fame. 
There Picus first assumed the regal state, 185 

There, sceptered, first 'midst lictor bands he sate, 
There met the senate : thither too was led 
The sacrificial ram and feasts were spread, 
The sacred feasts, where Latin sires repose. 
Around the statues of their kings arose 190 

In cedar carved : 

Saturn, and Janus Bifrons, first in place ; 
And Italus, the founder of the race ; 
Father Sabinus, planter of the vine, 
The pruning-knife in hand ; and a long line 195 



192 THE ^ENEIS. Book VII. 

Of Latin warrior-kings all famed in war, 
Their trophies hung around ; the captive car, 
The battle-axe, and crested helms and bows, 
The bolts of city gates, and brazen prows 
Wrenched from the hulls : 

And with Quirinal wand 200 
And the scant trabea on, and his left hand 
Bearing the sacred buckler, Picus sate, 
The steed subduer ; who endured the hate 
And golden rod of Circe, when in grove 
The goddess wooed and he despised her love. 205 

So sate Latinus 'midst his sires, as he 
Thus greeting, hailed the Trojan embassy : 
" Welcome Dardanidse ! for not unknown, 
E'en here, your race, your wanderings and town ; 
Now speak your wants and wishes, wherefore ye 210 
Cleave the blue waves of our Ausonian sea. 
Has tempest or mischance unto our shores 
(Since much of both the mariner endures) 
Forced or misled ye ? and doubt not nor fear 
The laws of Saturn just and holy, here 215 

We refuge all ; mindful of ancient fame, 
Unforced by laws, we own the stranger's claim. 
And I remember, tho' long years have rolled, 
That seers Auruncan, prophesying told 
How Tuscan Dardanus should quit his race 220 

For Phrygian Ida, and for Samothrace. 
In Corythus, his native city, we 
Uphold his fame and bless his memory — 



Book VII. THE -ZENEIS. 193 

There stands his golden fane, and in the skies 
Himself augments our native deities." 225 

Latinus ceased, and Ilioneus said, 
" King, sprung from Faunus ; hither are we sped, 
Neither enforced by tempest nor by need, 
Nor course beguiled, nor did the stars mislead. 
Hither we come a voluntary band 230 

Though exiled, truly, from our fatherland. 
Once, the most favoured land by Phoebus viewed 
From Asian Olympus ; land endued 
With worth by Jove himself, for Trojans trace 
Descent from Jupiter, chief of that race 235 

Trojan iEneas, who deputes us here. 

How war unbridled in its fell career, 
Swept from Mycense to th' Idsean plain ; 
How banded Europe crossed the -ZEgsean main 
'Gainst Asia sworn ; methinks the tale is told 240 

From northern realms of Hyperborean cold, 
To habitants, if such there be, made known 
Beyond the solar path and torrid zone. 
From that dread deluge, o'er the boundless wave 
Water and air, common to man, we crave 245 

And for our gods a refuge : let not aught, 
Fears of dishonour, influence your thought, 
Troy will not sully the Ausonian name, 
Whilst ye for generosity may claim 
The honours due : now by our prince I swear, 250 

And fates iEnean ! great in peace and war, 
By his right arm, that ere we sought thy court, 
Our friendship and alliance have been sought 

o 



194 THE M8EIS. Book VII. 

By nations divers : suffer not our want 

To sway your mind, nor scorn us suppliant. 255 

Urged and commanded by the Gods on high, 

Fate we fulfil, accomplish destiny. 

Apollo sternly bade us to return 

Unto the land where Dardanus was born ; 

And Tyrrhene Tybris named, and sacred fount 260 

Numican. 

These gifts of small account, 
Save as from Troy, reliques of days of old, 
iEneas sends : this chalice of pure gold 
With which Anchises sacrificed of yore ; 
This holy panoply King Priam wore, 265 

Sceptered and throned as he in judgment sate ; 
These garments and tiara demonstrate 
Of Ilion's maids, the judgment and the skill." 

Ilioneus ceased : the Latin king sat still, 
Immersed in meditation, and his eye 270 

And 'stonied gaze fixed upon vacancy ; 

He heeded nor the gifts nor orator, 

Nor purple robes, nor golden sceptre more. 

Before his eyes his daughter's nuptials pressed, 

And midnight oracle usurped his breast. 275 

The fated bridegroom from afar was there, 

Exiled by fate, by equal fate led here. 

Here was the progeny of promised worth 

To rule the world and domineer the earth. 

Then joyfully he spoke : " The Gods fulfil 280 

Their auguries, Trojans, to your will. 

We take your gifts ; and whilst Latinus reigns 

Share ye the bounties of the Latin plains 



Book VII. THE ^ENEIS. 195 

With Trojan wealth. Let thy iEneas come, — 

I long to welcome him to heart and home, — 285 

Let him not fear malevolence, for I 

Will grasp his kingly hand in amity. 

My further mandates to iEneas bear : 
I have a daughter, she mine only heir ; 
Now oracles paternal and high Heaven, 290 

And lots and prodigies have all forbidden 
Her wedlock with a prince of Latin line. 
A son-in-law, they promise, peregrine; 
One who the sceptre of the realm shall bear, 
And raise our name and issue to the sphere. 295 

That man foretold is, I believe, your king, 
And I accept the omen which ye bring." 

He ceased, and ordered steeds for each and all. 
Three hundred noble coursers stood in stall, 
With pendent poitrals and with bits of gold, 300 

And purple trappings gorgeous to behold ; 
But for their king two others he decreed — 
Broke to the car — born of etherial seed. 
Daedalian Circe filched it from her sire, 
And crossed the mortal steed with solar fire. 305 

And so the Trojan embassy returned 
With gifts and peace for which their hearts had yearned. 

But now with smitten heart, the spouse of Jove 
From Argos voyaging thro' realms above, 
Unto Pachynus on Sicilian shore, 310 

Beheld, her chariot from, the Trojans moor 

o 2 



196 THE ^NEIS. Book VII. 

The Trojan ships : she saw their labours done, 

The fleet deserted and the walls begun. 

Then sunk her heart, then sunk her haughty brow, 

Yielding to grief she mused in accents low : 315 

" Detested race ! with fates opposed to mine : 
Thwarted is vengeance and my power divine ? 
Sigeum's bloody field and battle plain 
Conquered and conquered captive : all in vain ? 
From Troy uprooted, thro' the sword and fire 320 

Behold them prosperous. Has my just ire 
Slept ? or is indeed my vengeance vain ? 
Is sunk and powerless Saturnia's fane ! 
Have I not chased them over land and seas 
Pursued with perils, tried with miseries, 325 

Yet what availed the Syrtes, what availed 
Or Scylla or Charybdis, on they sailed, 
And upon yellow Tiber now enjoy 
Eest and repose. Unchecked might Mars destroy 
His foes the Lapithse : might Dian vent 330 

Her rage on Calydon, nor Jove resent 
Vengeance extreme on hapless Calydon ? 
And I — the queen of Heaven — refused alone, 
Before a mortal and a man must bend 
With acts defied and power at an end ; 335 

But if the power divine be baffled thus, 
If Jove and Fate deny — to Tartarus 
And Acherontine powers : though Latium be, 
And though Lavinia his, by fate's decree, 
Yet can the Stygian powers withstand, withhold, 340 
Against the stranger rank the natives bold, 



Book VIF. THE JSNEIS. 197 

And through the blood and slaughter of his best 
Latinus gain his son and warrior guest. 
Yes, maiden, yes ! blood shall endowry thee ; 
Bellona, bridesmaid, and her gift shall be 345 

Trojan, Butulian, blood. 

The fire-brand ! ha ! 
No longer shall thy child-birth, Hecuba ! 
Stand forth alone ; for Venus yet prefers 
Another Paris, other child of hers, 
To fire again Troy's flickering remains 350 

On Tiber's banks and on Hesperia's plains." 

She spoke, descending and descending sought 
Alecto, from the regions of resort 
Of the dread Sisterhood, who sways the time 
Of war and passion, envy, wrath, and crime. 355 

E'en Dis with horror views her direful face, 
Her sisters shun her, dread of her own race ! 
For action when, her serpent locks uprear, 
Her, Juno sought : Saturnia sued with prayer. 
" Daughter of Nox, lend me awhile thine aid, 360 

Assert mine honour, Acherontine maid ! 
Let not iEneas gain, attesting fate, 
The Latin heiress and Italian state ; 
Plant — for thou canst — plant in each Latin breast 
Discord and hate towards the Trojan guest, 365 

Scatter, their dwellings midst, the fruitful seeds 
Of envy, malice, every vice which feeds, 
Rankles and propagates in human hearts ; 
For thine the thousand terms and harmful arts 



198 THE iENEIS. Book VIL 

Which banish peace and happiness afar, 370 

And nerve man's arm and prompt man's soul to war." 

Alecto rose, black with Gorgonian blood ; 
Within the Latin royal dome she stood, 
There sought the chamber where Amata lay, 
Of female pride and carking wrath the prey. 375 

The hymenseals and the king's behest, 
And Turnus and the Trojan swayed her breast. 

A snake cerulean wrenched from off her brow, 
Alecto at the Latin mother threw ; 
It glided to her throbbing heart and ire, 380 

Infused its baneful immaterial fire, 
Urging the soul to madness — on it rolled 
Unfelt, unseen, and formed a ring of gold 
Her neck about, it glided 'midst her hair 
And glossy locks, and o'er her bosom fair. 385 

But ere the venom had attained its height 
Or burned her blood within with fiendish spite, 
The nuptials she denounced in accents mild, 
And mourned as mourns a mother for her child. 

" Husband and sire : and must Lavinia be 390 

Wed to an exile ? pity her and me — 
He will not pity when with time and tide, 
He sails from hence in triumph with his bride. 
Was it not thus the Phrygian shepherd boy 
Won Lacedsemon's queen, and sped to Troy ? 395 

Was it not thus Ledsean Helen fell ? 
And wilt thou trust the pirate ; and as well 



Book VII. THE JENEIS. 199 

To Turnus faithless be, forgetful prove, 

And break thy plighted faith, their plighted love ? 

If oracles, and if thy sire's commands 400 

Impose a son-in-law from foreign lands — 

All lands are foreign, save those we control, 

Foreign is all, not subject to our rule ; 

And Tumus, when his ancestry we seek — 

Acrisius and Inachus were Greek." 405 

She spoke in vain : Latinus turned his head 
From argument. Meantime the venom spread, 
The demon venom coursed in veins unseen : 
Careless, disguiseless, then the hapless queen 
Distracted roamed : 

As when the child in sport 410 

Whips his gyrating top around a court 
Unceasing lashes, whilst the gaping throng 
Of urchins marvel as it speeds along, 
Unwitting on what principle it moves — 
Lashed by the Fury so the woman roves, 415 

So gazed the men and matrons on her course, 
Unwitting of the demon and her force. 
But when, by madness fired, she ventured more, 
And feigning Bacchanalia, when she bore 
Her child to mountains and to solitudes, 420 

" Evohe Bacche ! " shouting through the woods ; 
" Evohe Bacche ! thou and only thou 
Deservest the virgin's heart and virgin vow ; 
With thyrsus and with song we consecrate 
To thee her maiden locks, her maiden state." 425 



200 THE iENEIS. Book VII. 

And Fame divulged the deed — the deed made known, 

Straightway the Latin mothers left the town, 

Bushed to the hills and hurried to unbind 

Their locks, and bared their bosoms to the wind ; 

Garbed in the skins of beasts, the smitten air 430 

Echoed, as they upraised the vine-bound spear. 

Amata reared a blazing branch of pine 

And sung the hymenseal hymn divine 

Of Turnus and Lavinia : then turned her head 

Back on the frantic matrons, as she said, 435 

" 16 ! ye Latin matrons, lend me ears : 

If I, Amata, claim your pious cares, — 

If violated rights maternal move, — 

Unbind your locks, and kindred feelings prove 

In sacred orgies/' 

And, so overraught, 440 

To savage scenes and deeds the queen was brought. 

Alecto next, her mission thus begun, 

Soaring aloft in air, on pinions dun, 

Sought the Kutulian towers, of Danae. 

For fame records : across the ocean, she, 445 

Thither propelled by Notus, built those towers 

For her Acrisionian warriors : 

Ardua it was, but time has changed its name 

And destinies : now only known to fame 

As Ardea. 450 

Turnus there slept : there his offended breast 
Shared in the placid night the boon of rest. 



Book VII. THE iENEIS. 201 

To him Alecto rose with terrors veiled, 

Upon her face senility prevailed ; 

She came with bleached locks and with wrinkled brow, 455 

And wore the wreath and bore the olive bough : 

As Cabyle, priestess and prophetess 

Of Juno's fane, she opened the address : 

" Sleepest thou, Turn us ? — Dost thou sleep, nor see 
Thy sceptre pass to Troy's vile colony ; . 460 

Thyself disowned, thy proffered dower denied, 
An exiled stranger win thy plighted bride ! 
Go now, deluded warrior ! and again 
Scatter the Tyrrhene, shield the Latin reign. 
Omnipotent Saturnia sends me here 465 

With holy counsels to thy sleeping ear. 
Up — and arouse the Latin youth and pour 
Forth from thy gates the bands of glorious war, 
Smite upon Tiber's banks the Phrygian's train, 
And burn his imaged vessels on the main — 470 

The Gods command it : let the king essay 
The fruits of faithlessness and infamy. 
Let him endure, if he the nuptials bar, 
The wrath of Turnus and the brunt of war." 

With eye of scornful pride, the youth replied : 475 

" 'Tis not to me unknown, on Tiber's tide 

A fleet is moored ; shall that afflict my thought, 

Is Juno's aid and Juno's favour nought ? 

O mother, age and feebleness affright, 

Appal thy vision, and obscure thy sight ; 480 



202 THE .OTEIS. Book VII. 

Tend thou the temple, be the Gods thy care, 
Leave war to man : men peace and war declare." 

Stung by his scorn, Alecto stood confessed ; 
Her direful aspect the brave youth oppressed ; 
Erynnis of the hydra brow, she stood 485 

And quelled his speech and froze his curdled blood. 
Two snakes .from off her brow the Fury wrung, 
Down flashed the scourge and rung the knitted thong 
As thus she spoke : 

" Behold me — sunk in feebleness and age, 490 

Unfit 'midst regal slaughter to engage, 
Behold me — if thou canst — and quail beneath 
The hand infernal fraught with war and death." 
She said and smote him : the infernal fire 
Entered his inmost heart and raised its ire. 495 

Starting awake and bathed in clammy dew, 
He sprang from bed of slumber, and anew 
Baving aloud for armour and his arms : 
Frantic with rage and smitten with the charms 
Insane of war : so o'er the brazen side 500 

Of the hot cauldron leaps the boiling tide ; 
So leaps the heated liquid o'er its bound, 
To die in vapour and in empty sound. 

His embassy to king Latinus brought 
War and defiance : the while Turnus sought 505 

Around for means the Trojans to o'erthrow 
And liberate Italia from his foe. 



Book VII. THE iENEIS. 203 

Alone against the force combined he stands, 

Invoking Heaven and his Kutnlian bands. 

And many, hasting, to his standards run ; 510 

Some knew his sires, and others love the son, 

And prestige of his name and former battles won. 

Turnus thus fired, Alecto spread her broad 
And Stygian pinions, meditating fraud : 
She sought Ascanius, who pursued the boar 515 

With hounds and toils, upon the Latin shore. 
Before the dogs the Cocyteian hag 
Cast down the well-known odour of the stag ; 
That the first cause of quarrel, first of harm 
Which bared to fight the peasants' forceful arm. 520 
A fostered stag it was of noblest size, 
With branching antlers and with beaming eyes ; 
The boys of Tyrrheus caught it in the weald, 
Whilst Tyrrheus tended herd upon the field. 
Their sister Sylvia oft with flowers would deck, 525 

In maiden glee, his antlers broad and neck, 
Would bathe him in the fountain's limpid tide, 
And smooth his dappled coat and glossy hide : 
Tame and familiar, he was wont to roam 
By day afar, but aye at eve came home, 530 

And well he knew his stall and master's shed : 
Now on the river's brink he couched his head, 
And in its herbage found a cooler lair ; 
The rabid hunt came on and roused him there. 
With youthful love of prowess and of prey 535 

Ascanius launched the shaft : its deadly way 



204 THE JEWESS. Book VII. 

The Fury guided, and the purple tide 
Deeply it drunk, fixed in the panting side : 
Bleeding and faint, he sought his well-known stall 
And seemed to speak his tale, imploring all, 540 

Stretching his leathern coat with groans, as though 
He asked for human vengeance on his foe. 

First Sister Sylvia raised the voice of wail, 
And the rude rustic answered to her hail ; 
All came prepared ; Alecto led them there 545 

With brands and staves, and spirits void of fear. 
Tyrrheus, who clove an oak, he heard the cry ; 
Kesponding to her call he reared on high 
His woodman's axe ; Alecto on the roof, 
Gloating on turmoil raised at her behoof; 550 

Her brazen trump adds its Tartarean sound 
And speeds their signal of distress around ; 
The groves and sylvans quivered as it passed, 
And forest's depths untrodden heard its blast — 
Heard it, the Lake of Trivia from afar — 555 

Heard it, the waters of sulphureous Nar, 
Heard it, his fount Yelinan : mothers pressed, 
Trembling with fear, their children to the breast ; 
But their indomitable countrymen 
Upraised the shout and grasped their arms again. 560 

And heard, the Trojan camp, those notes of wrath 
As bearing needful aid they sallied forth. 
It was no rustic broil of staves and brands, 
But martial arms, and grasped in practised hands. 
The plain now bristled wide with sword and spear, 565 
And brazen helms and shields reflecting there 



Book VII. THE ^ENEIS. 205 

The solar beams back to their native heaven. 

So when the yeasty wave, by Hyems driven, 

Progressing gathers, its o'erpeering sway 

Breaks in its pride, and disappears in spray. 570 

Great Almon died the first, the eldest born 

Of Tyrrheus he, and foremost stood that morn ; 

The arrow pierced his throat, and vital breath 

And utterance failed him in the hour of death. 

And others fell : Galesus old, who then 575 

Only stood forth to calm the wrath of men ; 

A rich man and a just ; broad lands his care, — 

Five flocks, five herds, a hundred yoke of steer. 

Her task performed, her arts infernal crowned 
With full and sad success ; Hesperia's ground 580 

Polluted now with slaughter, war, and blood ; 
Alecto soared aloft and proudly stood 
In presence of Saturnia : " Lo ! " she said, 
" Discord is launched, the bolt of war is sped. 
Essay, now if thou wilt, by deed to foil 585 

The bands whose gore will fatten yonder soil : 
Now grant me license, seal thy sure assent, 
And I will on, unsparing and unspent, 
And through surrounding realms and regions sow 
The lust insane of war, of death and woe." 590 

" Enough ! " Saturnia said, " war is begun, 
Terror and fraud are rife : enough is done : 
Now have they cause, now let their passion rage 
Till flowing blood and slaughter it assuage. 
Such Venus ! such the nuptials thou hast won, 595 

Such Latin hymenseals for thy son. 



206 THE ^ENEIS. Book VII. 

Now hence away, for the Olympic sire 

Forbids your influence and presence here ; 

I can dispel all chances which may rise, 

Hence then away from our etherial skies." 600 

The Fury heard with silenced snakes ; her broad 
And demon wings she closed, and took the road 
Unto Cocytus : 

There is a valley lies, 
Where Apennine's primeval summits rise, 
Well-known and famed through regions of the world. 605 
Amsanctus 'tis : the torrent through it hurled, 
'Midst riven rocks and densest scrub bursts on 
With force impetuous, till its course is done, 
Where at a yawning rift and portal wide 
The realms of Dis demand its subject tide ': 610 

Down through those jaws pestiferous, the dread 
Erynnis plunged, and Heaven and Earth were glad. 

Saturnia meantime with her proper hand 

Fostered the war : now all the rustic band 

Eushed to the town and thither bore the slain, 615 

Young Almon and G-alesus : to the fane 

Of Heaven they rush, Latinus they implore. 

Turnus reproaching stood, perplexing more ; 

With hand the corpses on, he spread the fear 

Of violence and fire : states " Trojans were 620 

Invited guests, of the vile Phrygian race, 

And he expelled to give the pirates place." 

The youth — whose mothers at Amata's call 

Eushed to the mountain wilds, performing all 



Book VII. THE ^NEIS. 207 

Orgies of Bacchus — they assenting heard 625 

Demanding war : and thus, even thus, allured 

To mad impiety — 'gainst omens and 

'Gainst fate, and oracles — war they demand ; 

Demanding war they would coerce their king. 

But he, like to a rock, when thundering 630 

Its sides against the stormy billows rave, 

Casts off the foaming and the sedgy wave, 

And stands undaunted and unchanged ; so he 

Unchanged, undaunted, bore their mutiny — 

But all in vain, authority had failed, 635 

And Juno's wrath and Juno's power prevailed. 

Then speaking to the winds, the old man said, 

" Fate conquers us, the storm bursts o'er our head. 

With mad impiety, yourselves down draw 

Impending ruin and unhallowed war. 640 

Thou, Turnus, thou on thine own head draw'st fate, 

Too late thou'lt know it, and repent too late : 

My life is run — ye but forestall its hour 

And rob me of funereal pomp : no more." 

He spoke no more, but shunned the rising tide 645 

Of human deeds, which he no more might guide. 

A custom in Hesperian Latium held, 

And afterwards through Alban towns prevailed, 

And now in mighty Kome, — that Mars, when he 

Decrees hostilities, whether the doom may be 650 

Against the Geti, or Arabia, 

Hyrcania, or Auroran India, 

Or Parthia repentant : 



208 THE iENEIS. Book VII. 

The double gates, with name, 
Attributed by fear and ancient fame, 
To horrid war ; whereon a hundred bars 655 

Of brass and everlasting steel, and Mars 
And Janus warding on the threshold, hold 
Inviolate — then when the Senate old 
Pronounces doom to foes — the Consul there 
In Gabine garb, Quirinal trabea fair, 660 

Forces the creaking hinges and proclaims 
War, amidst trumpets and the crowd's acclaims. 
By custom and his office, when as head 
The king should this perform, Latinus fled, 
He shunned the irreligious deed and hid. 665 

Saturnia from Olympus, she undid 
The bolts and bars ; they to her hand gave way ; 
She oped the portals : and with reckless sway 
Ausonia raved, quiescent until then. 
Then rushed to field her foot and mounted men ; 670 
Then helms and bucklers furbished were and shone 
'Midst glittering brands, fresh whetted from the stone : 
The lust of martial panoply en-charms. 

Three cities straightway manufactured arms, 
Ardea, Atina, and Antemna vied 675 

With Crustumerium and Tibur's pride ; 
And helms they shaped and willow saplings twined 
To bear the shield ; and greaves and breastplates bind 
With silver mountings o'er the face of brass. 
And now their fields of tillage and of grass, 680 

And shares and scythes they quit ; and in the fires 
Temper anew the weapons of their sires : 



Book VII. THE ^NEIS. 209 

And when the banners waved, and trumpets spoke, 
They joined their startled horses to the yoke, 
Trembling with haste their buckled helmets don, 685 
Their gilded breastplates and their shields braced on, 
And slung their trusty swords, their fearless hearts upon. 

Now, Goddesses of Helicon ! declare 

Who the first kings and warlike chieftains were ? 

What bands our fair Italia supplied, 690 

What men, what warriors, what martial pride ? 

For, maids Aonian, ye alone can tell, 

Lost unto mortal memory, what befell. 

Mezentius first ! the Gods' contemnor ! dight 

In Tyrrhene arms, aye foremost in the fight. 695 

Lausus, the beautiful, his only son — 

Second, save haply Turnus, unto none. 

He left his steeds, he left the chase, and led 

New to the field, from Agyllina sped, 

A thousand men ; worthy position higher, 700 

Unblest in that Mezentius was his sire. 

And Aventinus, offspring of a God, 

Of Hercules, his palmy car bestrod 

And reined victorious coursers round the field ; 

His father's ensign glared upon his shield, — 705 

Hydra begirt with snakes : 

Ehea, from vestal shrine, 
In wooded glen and mount of Aventine, 

p 



210 THE JENEIS. Book VII. 

Endured the God's embrace, and bare a son. 

'Twas after, Geryon slain, Tirynthus won 

The shores Laurentian ; and Iberian kine 7L0 

Drank of the Tyrrhene Tiber's wave divine. 

Armed with the pilutn, and the heavy spear, 

With Sabine javelins, pointed swords they bear. 

With buckled paws, he wore the lion's hide, 

The mane and monster jaws a helm supplied ; 715 

With garb Herculean on Herculean frame, 

Thus rugged and thus terrible, he came. 

Twin brothers next from towers Tiburtian came, 

So called Tiburtus from, their brother's name. 

They, Coras and Catillus> Argive youth, — 720 

As cloud-sprung Centaurs putting strength to proof 

Rush from their mountain peaks, from Omole 

Or snow-clad Othrys, crushing every tree, 

Through hazel glades resounding, — so did they 

Crush ranks of men opposing their joint way. 725 

Nor was Prseneste's founder absent : he 

Found in the ashes and confessed to be 

The son of Vulcan, king of rural reign. 

Accompanied was he by rustic train, 

A sturdy multitude. Prseneste's height, 730 

And Gabii Junonian joined their might 

With Anio cold, Anagnian meadows green, 

Hernican rocks and Father Amasene. 

Scant armour theirs, nor boast they battle-car 

Nor burnished shield — but darts they cast afar, 735 



Book VII. THE ^ENEIS. 211 

Or hurled from slings the deadly plumb of lead. 
Instead of helm, the hide of wolf was spread 
Above their heads, their covering and their pride ; 
One naked foot — one wrapped in undressed hide. 

Messapus, steed subduer — by his sire 740 

Charmed against steel and fated against fire — 

He led his bands new to the battle-field ; 

The sword, Fescennians, just Faliscans, wield, 

Men from Soracte's summits, and the plain 

Flavinian, lake and mountain fane 745 

Ciminian, and Capena's grove and glen : 

In order marching, as they tramp along 
They chant and celebrate their chief with song : 
So troop the swans, high in the liquid cloud, 
From pasture back returning and aloud 750 

Chant their melodious music ; on it floats, 
And Asia's streams and lakes resound the notes. 
Ah ! who that heard such melody, would deem 
Them martial strains to be, which rather seem [755 

The joyful chant of birds on some fair flowing stream. 

Next, sprung from Sabine blood, with native bands 
Clausus the strong : from whom in Latin lands 
Descends the Claudian race, the era from 
When Sabines co-inherited in Eome : 
With him the old Quirites marched, and great 760 

Cohort from Amitern ; Eretum's state, 
With olive-clad Mutusca ; Momentum's town, 
And where Velinus through rich meads rolls down 

p 2 



212 THE ^ENEIS. Book VII. 

Kocks Tetrican, and high. Severan mount, 

Casperia and Foruli, and the fount 765 

Hymellan. and from Tybris, Fabaris, 

From Nursia' s snows, to where Hortlna is ; 

All Latin lands which Allia divides — 

Ill-omen'd name — like waves that bleach the tides 

Of Libyan waters, when the wintry main 770 

Orion sways : many as ears of grain 

Dotting the Lycian fields and Herman plain 

The gladsome sun beneath: they shake the ground 

As to their tread the brazen shields resound. 

Next came Halesus, Agamemnon's son, 775 

Hostile to Troy by birth : high mounted on 

His battle car, followed by warriors from 

A hundred tribes ; from Massicus they come, 

And vine-clad summits, hardy mountaineers 

Deputed by Auruncan sires and seers ; 780 

Shepherds from Gales, fishers from the mam, 

And husbandmen from the broad fruitful plain 

Where flows Vulturnus ; Oscans Ausonian, 

And hard inhabitant Saticulan. 

Their arms are rounded* aclides, and slung 785 

To a short stave, by a firm leathern thong ; 

The cetra on their arms, and fauchion by them hung. 

Nor, (Ebalus, shalt thou omitted be 

From this our verse : the nymph Sebethide 

Bare thee to Telon, in his island cell 790 

Of Capri where the Teleboans dwell. 

* Such, as Gog holds in Guildhall. 



Book VII. THE J2NEIS. ■ 213 

But Telon senior, that restricted reign 

Contented not the son : he sailed again 

To tribute subjecting Sarrastians and 

Dwellers by Sarnus, and the Bufan land, 795 

Celenna's fields and Batulum, and all 

The fields of fruit seen from Abella's wall. 

In mode Teutonic they accustomed were 

To hurl the bolt* cateias from, and wear 

A helm of bark of cork ; they also wield 800 

The brazen sword and bear the lunar shield. 

Nursia the rugged, sent great Ufens forth 

Glorious in arms, glorious in martial worth. 

The men of Equi followed him ; a race 

Brought up in toil and hardened in the chase ; 805 

If that they plough, they plough in arms ; but they 

Better delight to raid, and drive a prey. 

Umbro the mighty, their renowned priest, 
A wreath of peaceful olive on his crest, 
Marrubium and its king, Archippus, sent : 810 

With charm and incantation he was bent 
To tame the viper's brood and Hydra's fire, 
Soothe them to peace and medicine their ire. 
He charmed the Hydra, but he could not charm 
The martial vigour of the Trojan arm ; 815 

Yain was the incantation, vain the power 
Of soporific herb or magic flower. 
Yet Umbro, 'twas for thee Fucina's wave, 
For thee Angitia's groves their sorrows gave, 
And mourned thy timeless fate around thy grave. 820 
* The Teutonic crossbow. 



214 THE ^NEIS. Book VII. 

Virbius came next : Aricia taught thy son 
Hippolytus, Hesperian lands upon, 
Where Dian's cherished and benignant fane 
Stands in the glen 'midst springs Egerian. 
For fame records, — Hippolytus, when he 825 

The victim fell of hate and calumny, 
That drugs Paaonian reinspired the clay, 
And Dian's love restored the soul to day. 
But he, the sire omnipotent, irate 

That mortal hand should dare resuscitate 830 

Inanimated dust ; smote for the deed 
Apollo's offspring to the Stygian shade. 
Yet alma Dian saved, in grove above, 
Hippolytus ; and in Egeria's grove, 
Yirbius surnamed, he passed a length of days 835 

In peaceful life, though wanting fame and praise ; 
For, ever from the Trivian precincts, they 
Chased the hoofed steed ; remembering the day 
When that, amazed, they fled the sight abhorred 
Of the Neptunian brute, and slew their lord-E 840 

The ban removed, young Yirbius rode to war 
Eeining two steeds, yoked to his battle car. 

But foremost, chief came Turnus — none like him 

For martial excellence and strength of limb. 

And on his triple-apexed helm, the crest 845 

Chimsera, breathing flame in his behest ; 

Fast as the battle grows, the onslaught draws 

The stream of lightning faster from its jaws. 



Book VII. THE ^NEIS. 215 

His shield upon, fashioned in matchless mould, 

16 strode forth, bright in barbaric gold ; 850 

Some daring sculptor had not feared to trace, 

'Midst heifer attributes, her maiden face ; 

And Argus watched, and Inachus looked on 

With hidden urn and living fount, thereon. 

His Argive youth on foot, with brand and shield, 855 

Attend his steps and cluster o'er the field ; 

With them, Auruncans and Eutulians, and 

Sicanian aborigines ; and band 

Sacranan ; and Labicians, noted for 

Their painted shields — Xumicus' sacred, or 860 

Thy, Tiberinus, glades ; and thence around 

Past hills Eutulian to the seagirt mound 

Circsean ; thence to Feronia's grove, 

Where domineers, on marble steep above, 

Jupiter Anxur : Satura there sleeps 865 

In her black marsh ; and the cold Ufens leaps, 

And through the vale winds to the azure deeps. 

One more, or ere we cease, muse, one more, — 
Camilla, Volscian maid : 

She led to war 
Her martial horse flaming in brazen arms. 870 

For her Minerva's craft was void of charms, 
Distaffs and baskets suited not her hands ; 
But foremost in the battle-field she stands, 
Or in unrivalled speed, surpassing air ; 
Lo, o'er the glade she flees, nor leaves she there 875 



216 THE JENEIS. Book VII. 

A track of her light foot, or bruised blade ; 

Nay, o'er the wave she sped her course, nor made 

One billow chafe, nor wetted her fair feet : 

She passes, and admiring gazers greet 

Her coming and pursue her with their eyes, 880 

Men, matrons, youth, all in a mute surprise. 

The regal purple veiled her bosom fair, 

And golden fillets mingled with her hair ; 

The Lycian quiver from her shoulder fell, 

And her sharp spear was myrtle pastoral. 885 



Book VIII. THE ^NEIS. 217 



BOOK VIII. 

When that the banners of Laurentian war 

Turnns unfolded : when the spheres afar 

Echoed the bruit of steeds' and armour's clang, 

And to the brazen trump responsive rang, 

How was Ausonia troubled ! as one man 5 

Her generous youth rushed to the battle van. 

Messapus first, and Ufens thither sped : 

Contemnor of the Gods, Mezentius, led 

His ranks from devastated regions round: J 

And Venulus deputed was to sound 10 

Great Diomedes, with an embassade ; 

To bear him tidings and to ask his aid ; 

To tell him that, with Gods and exiled host, 

Trojan iEneas stood on Latium's coast, 

Asserting as his right, decrees of Fate : 15 

That many a people and that many a state 

Avouched his cause ; that fickle Fame had spread 

Widely his name, that he was making head. 

What might, should Fortune favour him, ensue, 

Was better Diomedes known unto 20 

Than Turnus or Latinus. 

Whilst these things passed 
The Laomedontian hero in his vast 



218 THE iENEIS. Book VIII. 

Capacious mind weighed likewise these events, 

But strove in vain to fix his mind's intents, — 

Which fluttered o'er his soul as flits the gleam 25 

Of the unsteady and the fitful stream 

Of rays of light poured downward by the sun, 

Or radiant moon, the brazen caldron on ; 

Reflected round on every side which play, 

Or seek the skies, lost in their native day. 30 

Again 'twas night : the night when Nature gives 

Her boon of rest to everything that lives ; 

And in the air, beneath the gelid sky, 

Father ^ZEneas lay, the river by, 

With perturbated mind and throbbing breast, 35 

Till Sleep, him likewise, mantled into rest ; 

When rising 'midst the trees that shade his flood, 

Its god and genius, Tiberinus, stood : 

Green and transparent was his mantle spread, 

And nodding rushes crowned his hoary head, 40 

As with benignant aspect, thus he said : — 

" Offspring of Heaven ! to us restored once more 
From Grecian foes and from the Trojan shore 
Expected long : now dost thou plant again 
Eternal Pergamus, on this my plain. 45 

Doubt not, this is thine home : doubt not, at last 
The wrath of Gods and Heaven is overpast ; 
The promised fields Laurentian, they are here. 
And thou ! lest that misdoubting thou shouldst fear 
This vision of the night a mockery, 50 



Book VIII. THE ^NEIS. 219 

The promised sow shall lie, a sign to be, 
Beneath a spreading ilex on the ground ; 
White and her thirty milkwhite sons around. 
There raise thy walls : there look to taste repose 
Until — when thirty circling years shall close — 55 

Ascanius shall the walls of Alba rear. 

I sing not things uncertain, therefore hear 
And mark my precepts, guides to victory ! 
Here dwell the Arcadians : sprung from Pallas, they 
Followed their king, Evander : here on high, 60 

My hills among, their waving banners fly, 
Called Pallanteum, from their ancestor — 
The Latins 'gainst them wage perpetual war : . 
Be they thy friends, confederate with them ; 
I will conduct you, safely shall ye stem 65 

The upward passage of my friendly stream. 

And now, goddess-born, arise, away ; 
For lo ! the stars pale to advancing day. 
Address thy prayer to Juno — supplicate, 
Subdue her wrath, soothe her dissolving hate — 70 

Hereafter, when victorious, honour me. 
Lo ! this abounding river ! I am he 
Cerulean Tyber — on my palmy side 
Hereafter, Heaven favoured, shall my pride, 
My mighty house, my crowning city, spread." 75 

He ceased, deep waves closed o'er his honoured head. 

Then, hand in hand departing, Sleep and Night 
Fled the etherial sun : the rosy light 



220 THE iENEIS. Book VIII. 

iEneas marked : in instant prayer he stood, 

With hollowed hands libating from the flood, — 80 

" Nymphs, ye Laurentian nymphs, whose urns bestow 

The fountains whence these mighty waters flow ; 

Thou ! Father Tyber, and thy sacred wave, 

Keceive us, and, 'midst perils threatened, save. 

Where'er it be thy wave benignant flows, 85 

Whate'er thy bounty or thy love bestows, 

Ever, noblest stream ! for aye be thine 

Our offerings and our vows ; thou source divine, 

And bicorned ruler of Hesperian streams." 

He said, and from the shore launched two biremes 90 
And chose the crews, and rigged them for the oar ; 
When — omen apt and timely — on the shore, 
The oaks beneath in shade and verdure, lo ! — 
Suckling her thirty milk-white young — the sow. 

Her and her offspring, there ^Eneas slew, 95 

To thee, Imperial Juno ! thee unto. 

And Tyber all that livelong night delayed, 

And retrogressive with waves tranquil stayed. 

As on the placid surface of a lake 

The oars their course through waves cerulean take ; 100 

Onward they swept with soft and dreamy sound, 

And murmurs of delight arose around. 

On sped the unctuous barks — the waves amazed 

And woods around upon the marvel gazed, 

Gazed on the painted prows and warriors' shields, 105 

As night and day they rowed by verdant fields, 



Book YIII. THE ^NEIS. 221 

By many a grove of diverse trees between, 
And many a bend and reach of sparkling sheen. 
The fiery sun his mid-day height had gained, 
When the iEneadse their goal attained — 110 

The citadel and scattered dwellings, where 
Unrivalled Eome now towers in mid air — 
'Twas then Evander's infant colony : 
They put to shore : it chanced upon that day, 
A sacrifice to Heaven and Hercules 115 

Was offered in the grove of sacrecl trees. 
Pallas, his only son, the Senate poor, 
And chiefest youth burnt frankincense before 
The fanes, then hissing with the tepid blood, 
When the biremes appeared upon the flood 120 

Gliding to shore, oars silent and released. 
All rose astonished and had fled the feast, 
Save only Pallas — who forbade them thus 
The rites to quit : and from the tumulus, 
Armed, thus he hailed them : 

" Warriors, declare 125 

The cause and purpose which impel you here, — 
Tracking through paths unknown our dwelling-place. — 
Declare your purpose ; tell your name and race, 
And whether peace or war ?" 

And from the prow 
Father iEneas held the olive bough. 130 

" Trojans, the Latins' enemy, are we, — 
Since Latins will it so, since they decree 
War against wanderers : deputed chiefs we are 
Evander unto, seeking aid in war." 



222 THE ^JNEIS. Book VIII. 

The name renowned with marvel Pallas heard, 135 

" Descend," he said ; " the suit must be preferred 
Before my Father — as our guest descend, 
And enter 'midst our dwellings as a friend." 
Then straining with long grasp the hand he took : 
They sought the grove and king ; iEneas spoke : — 140 

" best of Greeks, to whom fate wills I bow, 

x\nd proffer thus the peaceful olive bough, 

And fearless proffer it : albeit thy race, 

Albeit thy lineage Arcadian trace 

From the Atridan kings : for mutual worth, 145 

And oracles, — thy fame spread through the earth, 

Assenting Fates, and kindred blood, join us. 

Our ancestor, Troy's founder, Dardanus — 

Greece witnesseth to this — Electra bare, 

Electra sprung from Atlas ; Maia fair 150 

Bare then your sire, Mercurius, her son 

Brought forth Cyllene's peak of snow upon. 

But Maia's — if authentic be the fame — 

And our Electra's sire was the same, 

Atlas, the mighty Atlas, who uprears 155 

The vault of heaven and bears the solid spheres. 

Thus are we kinsmen ; trusting whereupon 

Hither I come, unheralded, unknown, 

Myself my hostage, suppliant unto thee. 

Thy foes, the Daunians, are foes to me. 160 

Hesperia, if we succumb, will be 

Their prostrate prey — even from sea to sea. 



Book VIII. THE ^NEIS. 223 

Then let us take and plight our mutual hands, 
And link the Hesperian and the Trojan bands." 

iEneas ceased : with an unconscious gaze 165 

Evander listened had, in mute amaze, 
But promptly answered : " Noblest son of Troy, 
I know thee well and welcome thee with joy. 
How do I recognise in face and tone 
The great Anchises and the days bygone ! 170 

I can remember, Priam sailing sought 
Hesione, his sister, at her court 
Of Salamis ; our plains Arcadian 
Then visiting — I was a stripling then ; 
By Teucrian splendour dazzled much was I, 175 

By Priam much, but most Anchises by ; 
With youthful confidence my spirit planned 
Him to address — of him to take the hand ; 
Him I addressed, and proudly led him through 
The gates of Pheneos : when he withdrew, 180 

A chlamys interwove with gold, he gave, 
Quiver of Lycian shafts, which yet I have, 
And two gold bits, which Pallas useth now. 
The hand and faith you ask, do I bestow : 
And when to-morrow's dawn shall glad the earth, 185 
Thee will I speed with aid and treasure forth. 
Now join our annual sacrifice, which we 
May not defer : assuming seats, to be 
Henceforth your due, at feasts of your ally." 

He spoke, resuming the unfinished rite, 190 

And ordered back the meats and goblets bright. 



224 THE ^NEIS. Book VIII. 

On turf reposing, round the people sate ; 

But with the king upon a throne of state, 

Of maple wood, spread with the lion's hide, 

iEneas sate ; and chosen youths supplied — 195 

Aiding the priest — the roasted bowels, and 

Ceres, her kneaded gift, and Bacchus hand. 

The Trojans of the lustral entrails taste, 

And with the undivided chine were graced. 

Hunger appeased, Evander spoke again : 2Q0 

" No superstition false or worship vain, 
No slight towards the elder deities, 
Prompted this feast with these solemnities. 
Trojan, for perils past we offer now 
Our gratitude, and pay the plighted vow. 205 

Behold yon crag projecting in mid air, 
And at its base the ruins : it was there, 
In caverned darkness and recesses dread, 
Half-human Cacus veiled his brutal head ; 
Miry with daily slaughter was its floor, 210 

And human heads depended o'er its door — 
The solar beam ne'er penetrated there. 
Vulcan begot him — in vulcanic lair 
He breathed forth flame ; but succour was at hand, 
Aid and a present God, when to this land 215 

Alcides, great avenger, clad in spoils 
Of triform Geryon, came unbent by toils ; % 

Hither his captive bulls the victor led, 
And in this valley, by this stream, they fed. 



Book VIII. THE ^NEIS. 225 

The robber Cacus dared to covet them : 220 

With sacrilegious pride and stratagem 

He filched forth from the herd four chosen steers, 

And four the choicest heifers for his lairs. 

And, lest their struggling footmarks should betray, 

He dragged them by the tails, so that the way 225 

Deceived the searchers, leading from the cave. 

But when Amphitryonius would brave 
These seas again, assembling then the herd, 
The rocks and mountains round their lowings heard, 
And from the caverned depths one cow replied, 230 

And so was Cacus and the theft descried. 
Alcides raved, all stirred was his black bile, 
Quivered his club of knotted oak, the while 
He scaled the mountain brow — then did we see 
Cacus in fear : swifter than Eurus, he, — 235 

Fear lent him wings, — his den ensconced him in, 
Let fall the balanced rock which he within 
Had slung with iron and paternal lore 
Ingress to bar : Alcides raved the more ; 
He sought in vain, grinding his teeth with spleen, 240 
An entrance, rocks of Aventine between. 
Thrice, hot with rage, he girt the mountain bound, 
Thrice did he shake the portal neath the ground, 
Three times he sat and breathed, on rocks around. 

There was one pinnacle of rock which stood 245 

Towering in air, impending o'er the flood, 
The home of fetid birds that shun the day : 
The hero smote it and it rent away, 

Q 



226 THE iENEIS. Book VIII. 

It fell — then Tiber fled — his banks around 
And heaven above reverberate the sound. 250 

Then was displayed the dread abyss between, 
Then were the cavern and the horrors seen, 
Not otherwise than though the earth should burst, 
Disclosing Orcus and its reign accurst, 
By Gods detested, and, through chasms riven, 255 

The spirits crouching from the light of heaven. 
Thus ta'en at unawares, and blind with light, 
Caught in his den and roaring with affright : 
Above, Alcides armed, and hurling down 
Each tree within his reach, or weighty stone : 260 

He from retreat cut off, belched clouds of fume — 
'Tis true, though marvellous ! a pitchy gloom 
Involved himself and den : more thick and thick became 
The gathered cloud, which flashed with sheets of flame. 
Alcides, stirred by anger, leapt below, 265 

And groped his way the flame and vapour through, 
And seized the monster in a vengeful clasp, 
Seized him despite his flames, and in a grasp 
Herculean strained : his eyes burst forth the head, 
And from the arid throat the blood-tide sped ; 270 

Then wrenching off the portals of the cave, 
To the filched beasts their liberty he gave. 
Forth by the foot then dragged the shapeless brute : 
Spectators we ! in admiration mute — 
Our eyes beheld the face and form he wore, 275 

In bristles clad and jaws that flamed no more. 
It is from thence — sacred to Hercules — 
This feast we hold, and celebrate his praise : 



Book VIII. THE ^NEIS. 227 

Potitius claims its priesthood, aided by 

The noble house of the Pinarii. 280 

The rites Herculean he administers ; 

He raised this altar in its grove, which bears 

Its title " Highest" now and evermore. 

Therefore arouse ye, warriors, and adore : 

Enwreath your locks with verdure, pour the wine, 285 

Invoke our common God, and hail his shrine." 

He said, and placed the wreath upon his head 
Of poplar double-hued, Herculean shade ! 
Then filled the scyphus with his own right hand ; 
Around the tables all libating stand, 290 

Invoking Heaven. 

When Vesper from Olympus borne drew nigh, 
The Priesthood, by Potitius led, passed by 
Garbed in accustomed skins : the fires they bore 
And spread with grateful gifts the tables o'er, 295 

Piling with meats the altars more and more. 
The altars flamed ; the Salii chanted round, 
Herculean poplar on their temples bound — 
One choir of youth and one of age the lays 
Of Hercules recite, transcending praise : 300 

" How that in infancy he rendered vain 
The stepdame's hate, strangling the serpents twain. 
How that in manhood, towns he razed in war, 
Troy and CEchalia : further, how he bore 
A thousand toils, suffered beneath the king 305 

Eurystheus — Juno fate administering. 
Thou, unconquered, thou with mighty hand 
The cloud-begotten Centaurs Pholus and 

Q2 



228 THE ^NEIS. Book VIII. 

Hylaeus crushed. Thou deaPdst the blow 

Laid Cretan bull — Nemeian lion low ; 310 

Thy force the Stygian waters fled before, 

And in his den the trifold janitor 

Of Stygian Orcus. No monsters thee affright : 

No, not Typhoeus, nor his height nor might ; 

Nor Hydra with his springing heads, who found 315 

Thy wisdom prompt to aid, thine hand to wound. 

Hail, son of Jove, glory of Heaven, hail ! 

Propitious hear, nor let our offerings fail." 

So flowed their numbers, which again aspire 
To sing of Cacus and his den of fire. 320 

The hills and woods reverberate the strain 
Till, all the rites concluded, once again 
They sought the city, wending o'er the plain. 

To lead the way uprose the aged king, 
iEneas and his son — accompanying, 325 

And disquisitions long beguiled the way. 
He asked, and heard the various history 
Pertaining to each monument of days 
Long since gone by ; and his approving gaze 
Confessed that site matchless for strength and pride. 330 

Home's founder then, Evander, thus replied : 
"The fauns and nymphs first reigned these groves among, 
And from each knotty trunk a nation sprung 
Indigenous — rough as their rugged sires ; 
No hoarded grain nor wintry garner theirs, 335 

No steers — nor even cultivation rude, 
But the rough chase and mast supplied their food. 



Book VIII. THE ^ENEIS. 229 

And then when Saturn fled the etherial plain, 

And bolts of Jove, and abdicated reign, 

Hither he came, and to his dwelling-place 340 

He lured the savage and indocile race. 

Laws he imposed, and named the region round 

Latium, for latent there a home he found. 

The golden age, of which men speak, was then — 

With a most blessed peace he governed men ; 345 

But sullied grew that age as it grew old, 

And rose the lust of war and love of gold. 

Then hordes Ausonian and Sicanian came, 

And oft, too oft, Saturnia changed her name 

And kings — the huge and bloody Tybris rose, 350 

To whom the stream Italian its name owes, 

'Twas Albula before. 

And I a wanderer, 
Exiled from home, Fortune and Fate led here. 
But I my mother nymph's monitions bore, 
And great Apollo's — her admonitor." 355 

So spoke Evander, passing by the fane 
And gate Car mental, names which still remain 
In Koman memories — Carmenta deified 
Fatidicating power — she who first prophesied 
iEneian growth and Pallanteum's pride. 360 

Next pointed out the grove which since that day 
Romulus decreed asylum : Lupercal lay 
Its rock beneath ; in speech Parrhasian 
That grove is known as of Lycsean Pan. 
And Argiletum, where the Argive died, 365 

His fate thereby avowed and justified ; % 



230 THE ^NEIS. Book VIII' 

Tarpeia's rock they passed, and rough and poor 
The Capitol— now golden, but of yore 
Its sanctity appalled by equal gloom. 
God, they affirmed, dwelt there — 'twas God, but 
whom, 370 

What God it was, unknown : the Arcadian deemed 
'Twas Jove apparent, that the segis beamed, 
When through the gloom the Cloud-compeller trod, 
And thunders spoke the right hand of the God. 
Disjointed walls and ruins met their gaze, 375 

Keliques of other towns and other days, 
Saturnia and Janiculum : 

Onward they sped 
The way unto Evander's roof which led, 
And oxen only grazed upon the land 
Where now the Forum and Carinae stand. 380 

Here paused the king : he paused and turning said, 
" iUcides crossed the threshold of this shed ; 
This lowly threshold Hercules hath trod : 
Despising wealth, we emulate the God : 
With his example, enter we this door, 385 

Nor scorn the lowly welcome of the poor." 
He said, and led the way : iEneas passed 
The lowly roof beneath, and sunk his vast 
And wearied limbs a hide of bear upon, 
As with her dusky wings all covering Night rushed on. 

[390 
But Venus by maternal feelings wraught, 
By threats Laurentian and by tumult, sought 
Yulcan, her lord. 



Book VIII. THE ^ENEIS. 231 

Him she caressed 
Stretched on the golden couch ; upon his breast 
She breathed love's accents from their source divine : 395 
" When kings Atridan battled, husband mine, 
And Pergamus and Ilium fell their prey, 
I asked no aid, assistance none of thee. 
Armour or arms, of mine no futile prayer 
Troubled thy spirit for our vain career. 400 

What though the sons of Priam votaries were, 
And oft, too oft, iEneas claimed a tear : 
But now by ordinance of Jove he stands 
On realms Kutulian — and now at thy hands, 
Husband and holy power by me adored, 405 

Thou, that the prayer of Thetis did'st accord ; 
Thou, who did'st grant Aurora — grant to me, 
A mother for her son — in misery, 
The arms we need : for many him oppose, 
And many towns forge armour for our foes." 410 

She spoke, and, as he hesitated, wound 
Her snowy arms in gentlest folds around ; 
He felt the fire, he felt the wonted flame 
Which smote and penetrated all his frame, 
As smites the lightning flash that rends the cloud 415 
And vibrates earth and heaven with thunders loud. 
And Venus smiled, of conscious beauty glad, 
As he, by love eternal vanquished, said, 
" Why dost thou dive for reasons to persuade ? 
Is my love doubtful or my faith decayed ? 420 

If then, as now, it had thy pleasure been, 
I would have forged thee armour, O my queen ! 



232 THE ^ENEIS. Book VIII. 

Lawful it was — nor Jove denied, nor Fate, 
Ten years more misery to Priam's state. 
And now if such thy will and thy decree, 425 

Whate'er is in my power demand of me, — 
Of iron, liquid bronze, the blast and flame ; 
But cease to doubt thy power aye the same." 
He said, embracing her, till on her breast 
Sleep rocked his frame in ever grateful rest. 430 

He rose again ere half the night was gone, 
What time the sempstress — she who toiling on 
Struggling with life, the distaff and the thread — 
Steals from the night its hours, and quits her bed, 
Bakes up the dying embers, to allot 435 

Her maids their daily tasks ; and toils for what ? 
Chastely to live and gain her children's bread — 
So Vulcan rises, so he quits his bed, 
Before the morn upreared her rosy head. 

'Twixt the Sicanian coast and Lipari, 440 

'Midst fume and spray an island rises high, 

Quarried with vaults Cyclopean within 

And caves iEtnsean ; whence resounds the din 

Of roaring furnace, of the metal's flow, 

The ringing anvil and the echoing blow ; 445 

The seat of Vulcan 'tis, Vulcanian land, I trow. 

From heaven descending, Vulcan sought his hall, 
Where labouring with bared arms the Cyclops all — 
Sterope, Bronte, and Pyracmon — frame 
The unfinished bolt of Jove with fire and flame, 450 



Book VIII. THE JENEIS. 233 

For wrath and ruin : and their adjuncts bind, — 

Three forked rays for hail, and three for wind, 

For deluge three, and three for scorching fires ; 

They add the attributes such bolt requires, — 

The flash to startle, thunder to appal, 455 

And awe to daunt, and wrath to follow all. 

" Lay these things by, lay by your wonted tasks, 

iEtnsean Cyclops — for this hour asks 

Arms for a warrior : add to ready will 

The rapid stroke, and all the master's skill ; 460 

Haste and begin." He spoke no more, and they 

Bent to the task, each in his wonted way — 

Brass flowed, and gold, and from the furnace fell 

Steel liquified, the death-devoting steel ! 

They shaped the shield — the shield foredoomed to bear 

Alone the Latin darts and Tuscan spear ; [465 

Orb upon orb its sevenfold folds they lay, 

They plunge the metal and the blast they play ; 

The caverns echo as the strokes resound, 

And the mass tortured writhes and writhes around. 470 

Whilst Lemnius toiled iEolian shores upon, 

Evander, lowly lodged, woke with the sun 

And swallows twittering in the morning dew. 

The senior rose, his tunic on he drew. 

His Tyrrhene sandals, Tegesean sword, 475 

And hide of Panther donned — upon their lord 

Two faithful dogs, his threshold's guard, attend ; 

And to the Trojan's resting-place they wend, 



234 THE iENEIS. Book VIII. 

Mindful of his discourse and promised aid, 

Pallas attending him. iEneas too had paid 480 

His orisons ; and he, accompanied 

By true Achates ever at his side, 

They joined their right hands and they sat them down ; 

The king began his purpose to make known : — 

" Teucrian chieftain, I can never think 485 

Troy wholly vanquished, or her fates extinct, 

Beholding thee ; and all too small our state 

To join alliance witli a name so great : 

Yon bounding river is the Tuscan's, and 

Rutulian walls close on the other hand ; 490 

War hurtles at our gates : but kings we have 

Warlike and great, with subjects rich and brave. 

Fate leads thee hither in their hour of need, 

And past our hopes, Fortune is good indeed. 

Agylla's walls of antique frame and fame 495 

Rise near at hand : the sons of Lydia came 

In years gone by, and hills Etruscan won 

And colonized and nourished them upon, 

Until Mezentius ruled : but how narrate 

His bloody deeds — his actions why relate ? 500 

May Heaven reward them on him and his kind : 

Alive and dead he wonted was to bind 

In bonds together— he bound them hip to hip, 

Limb against limb, and lip conjoined to lip, 

Horrible torture ! so corruption grew — 505 

The festering corpse the living body slew. 



Book VIII. THE ^NEIS. 235 

But soon the wearied citizens rebelled, 

And house and home assailed and minions quelled, 

And his domestic dome of thatch they fired. 

He to the realms Kutulian then retired ; 510 

Where he and his, fostered by Turnus, are. 

So now Etruria urges holy war ; 

Their king condemned, his forfeit blood must flow, — 

And thou, iEneas, doomed to strike the blow. 

Their forces on the sands assembled stood, 515 

Their vessels congregated on the flood 

Keady to sail — the aged seer restrained, 

Haruspex and the oracle detained — 

He sung : 

1 Maeonian youth ! pride of the race of eld, 520 

By justice and by holy ire impelled, 

And hard oppression roused against thine head, 

No chief Italian may thy forces lead, — 

Seek ye a foreign chief.' 

Upon my lands 
This doom was uttered to the Etruscan bands, 525 

And Tarchon's legates straightway sought me here 
With sceptre, crown, and their regalia rare. 
They tendered me the realm and the command ; 
But all too old my frame and weak my hand ; 
My mind unnerved — ill -fitted now to guide ; 530 

And Pallas, Sabine by his mother's side, 
Neither responds the call : but now in thee 
Do age and country, Fate and Gods, agree. 

Trojan and Italian chief, arise 
Pallas of thee must learn war's high emprize, 535 



236 THE ^NEIS. Book VIII. 

Two hundred horse Arcadian thee attend, 
Two hundred more with Pallas will I send ; 
Be thou the guide and guardian of my boy, 
Mine only hope who is, and only joy." 

Silent iEneas Anchisiades, 540 

Silent Achates stood, whilst by their eyes 

Fixed in deep thought, flashed o'er their memories, 

Passed perils, pains, and countless miseries. 

But now maternal love on high unfolds 

The will of Heaven, and calms their doubting souls. 545 

Its lightnings flashed — its thunders boomed around, 

Mingling the Tyrrhene trumpet's clanging sound, 

And the pure ether stirred tumultuously 

As one by one another blast sped by. 

Arms on a cloud, albeit the region clear, 550 

Flashed on the sight and clanged upon the ear. 

All stood amazed — save Anchisiades : 

He hailed his mother's signs and promises, 

And owning spoke : 

" My host ! marvel not, 
Nor let these portents dread disturb thee aught : 555 
Olympus calls ; my G-oddess mother soars 
With arms Yulcanian for impending wars, — 
For so she promised. 

Ah me ! what blood must flow, 
Slaughter Laurentian : Turnus wills it so ! 
O Father Tyber — must thy sacred wave 560 

Clog with the arms and corpses of the brave ? 



. 



Book VIII. THE ^NEIS. 237 

It must — they raise the lance, the truce is flown." 
The hero said, and left the royal throne. 
The waned Herculean fire he restored, 
And fed the flames — then joyfully adored 565 

The last eve's Lar, and the Penates small. 
The chosen ewes he slew — assistant all, 
The king and Trojan, at that festival. 

That done, iEneas sought his ships, and chose 
The warriors boldest ; and retaining those, 570 

Dismissed the rest on Tyber's favouring flood 
To tell Ascanius there how matters stood. 
They mount the Trojans for the Tyrrhene war, 
But chose unlotted steeds iEneas for, 
Yclad in lion's hide, paws gilded o'er. 575 

Fame bustles, and the little city rings 
Bruiting of embassies and Tyrrhene kings : 
The matrons rush to altars in affright, 
And pale imagination paints the fight 
As Mars — his image — grows upon their sight. 580 

Evander clasped young Pallas, and his tears 
Fell big and fast as, parting, woke Ins fears. 
" Jupiter," he said, " would'st thou restore 
My youth and strength as in Praeneste's war, 
When their best ranks I scattered on the plain, 585 

And burnt a pyramid of shields of slain ; 
When Herilus, ill-fated king, I slew, 
And sent his soul to Tartarus — 'tis true 



238 THE JENEIS. Book VIII. 

Feronia at his birth on him bestowed 

Three lives and armour trine : three times he bowed 590 

Beneath my sword, and twice he rose again ; 

But thrice he fell and thrice I stripped the slain. 

Not then, beloved son, not then, had we 

Parted as now we part : neither had he, 

Mezentius, this hoary head defied, 595 

And from my towns his hostile ranks supplied : 

But, O ye Gods, and Jove, of Gods the king, 

See thine Arcadian votary's suffering ! 

Hear ye a father thee soliciting — 

If ye, holy powers and Fate, restore 600 

Pallas, my son, victorious from war : 
Then heed no intervening misery, 
But grant me life, and let me live to see. 

But if, Fortune, thou betoken'st woe, 
Let me not live — let me not live to know ; 605 

But whilst the event and hope be all unknown, 
My son beloved, my late and only son, 
Holding thee thus, ne'er let mine aged ears 
List to the messengers." So, bowed with fears, 
The old man to his sou at parting said, 610 

Ere senseless borne and laid upon his bed. 

Forth by the Latin gate the horsemen rode, 
iEueas first, Achates next bestrode, 
Followed by Trojan peers, and Pallas there 
In chlamys and in armour blazoned fair. 615 

So Lucifer amidst the shining host, 
Star of the sphere which Venus loves the most, — 



Book VIII. THE JENEIS. 239 

So Lucifer arises o'er the main, 

And spreads his rays o'er the etherial plain. 

The trembling matrons lined the wall to view, 620 
The dusty cloud and helmets beaming through ; 
The horsemen spread more widely and more wide, 
They leapt the bushes upon either side, 
And the earth echoed to the warlike stride. 

There is a grove, upon the frigid stream 625 

That flows by Caere, which our elders deem 
Sacred to be ; shadowed by rocks and fir : 
The old Pelasgi — so doth fame aver — 
That grove devoted, with a festal day 
Sylvanus to, the God of husbandry. 630 

Behind that sacred grove, in camp secure, 
Did Tarchon and his Tyrrhenes bide the war. 
From the high crest the Trojans them beheld, 
The martial field the tents spread widely held. 
Father iEneas and his chosen force 635 

Dismounted there, and freed the wearied horse. 

And there descending in her cloud-borne car 
The Queen of Beauty sought the seat of war, 
Fraught with immortal gifts : 

Him pensive found 
In vale secluded with stream's bubbling sound. 640 

Confessed to sight she stood as thus she said, 
" Behold, my son, the promises I made ; 
They are performed : Lo, here my husband's skill : 
Now let the fierce Laurentians bend in will 



240 THE JENEIS. Book VIII. 

And savage Turnus." She embraced her son, 645 

And placed the radiant arms an oak upon. 

Elated he, with gladness and surprise 
Feeds on their beauties with insatiate eyes ; 
The death-devoting sword he first essays, 
And crested helm, beaming immortal rays ; 650 

And the dense armour rough with gleaming brass, 
Ensanguined seemed its complicated mass — 
Like to the evening cloud, what time the sun 
Pours his red rays or ere his race be run ; 
And cuishes light of mingled metal rolled, 655 

And shield — and shield of undescriptive mould, 
Where deeds Italian — Koman triumphs — where, 
Prescient of things to come, the Fire God there, 
Had in long order shown, Ascanius from, 
The triumphs and the victories of Koine. 660 

There in green grot and in Mavortian cave 
The wolf reclined ; her milky dugs she gave, 
And on them fearlessly the brothers hung 
And milked their stepdame, as she with her tongue 
Fashioned and formed them ; with reverted head 665 
By turns she licked them. 

Next portrayed 
Kome and the Sabine maids : the theatre, 
The games Circensian, and the ravished fair, 
The war relumed ; Tatius and Komulus 
And the stern Cures : next depicted thus, 670 

With wrath appeased, the chalices they bear, 
Armed at Jove's altar do the kings appear ; 
And o'er the sow they sacrifice — they swear. 



Book YIII. THE iENElS. 241 

Next Metius by quadrigae torn in twain ; 

Alba, beware, of perjuiy the pain ! 675 

Avenging Tullus dashing through the wood, 

And scattering far and wide the traitor's blood. 

And Porsena advancing to sustain 

The House of Tarquin : iEneadse again 

In armour dight to strike for liberty : 680 

Indignant, chafed and threatening, stands he 

Beholding Codes save the bridge and Eome, 

And Cloelia 'scaped swimming old Tiber home. 

The rock Tarpeian towered over all, 
And Capitol, and Manlius on its wall. 685 

There stood rethatched the roof of Kome's first kings : 
There too the bird fluttered its argent wings, 
Which rung the alarum of the ascending Gaul : 
For on the ramparts of the Capitol, 
Through the dense scrub and night and darkness there, 
The Gaul had once prevailed : their yellow hair [690 
And golden torques glittered their necks upon, 
Their golden vests and their striped cassocks shone, 
Two Alpine spears their better right hands wield, 
The left sustained the frame-protecting shield. 695 

The leaping Salii, naked Luperci, 
The woollen tufted caps, shields fallen from high 
To earth descended : Home's noblest dames 
Borne in pilenti * soft to sacred games. 
All this was there, and added unto this 700 

The seats Tartarean and black halls of Dis, 
* Some obsolete litter or carriage. 



242 THE ^ENEIS. Book VIII. 

Seats of the damned : thou, Catiline beneath 

The rock and furies, with arrested breath : 

Opposed to whom — opposed the sculptor draws 

Seats of the blessed, and Cato framing laws. 705 

Within this sculptured margin rolled the main 
With waves and breakers on its golden plain, 
And silver dolphins dashing through the spray. 
At Actium moored the brazen vessels lay, 
Leucadia bristling beneath warlike spears. 710 

Augustus Csesar there his standard rears, 
And, marshalled round, Rome's Senate and her sons, 
Greater and lesser Gods, and Legions. 
Himself, the poop upon, discerned afar 
By the two flames and the paternal star. 715 

Agrippa there befriended by the winds 
And fates propitious, on his temples binds 
Of victory the nautic coronet. 
And Antony — Mark Antony — beset 
With erst victorious, but discordant bands, 720 

Splendours barbaric of wide-spreading lands, 
Aurora's people from the Red Sea's shore, 
Egypt, the East, and furthest Bactria bore, 
Followed alas ! by one, Egyptian woman, more. 

All seek the deep, launching in yeasty foam : 725 

You would have thought the Cyclades to roam, 
And mountain hurtle mountain, as they met 
And brazen prows opposed poops turretted : 
Where fire and steel are gleaming on each side, 
And Neptune with unwonted hues is dyed. 730 



Book Vin. THE ^NEIS. 243 

With the Egyptian sistruni in her hands, 

Eight in the midst the queen invokes her bands, 

Nor sees the serpents following in her rear ; 

Her monster gods and dog Anubis there 

Opposed to Venus, Neptune, Pallas, fail : 735 

And Mars destroying in his flashing mail, 

And the pale Diras hovering o'er the throng ; 

With palla torn, there Discord borne along — 

Bellona following all with bloodied thong. 

Actius Apollo saw and loosed the bow, 740 

And scattered panic fear and flight below. 
Egyptians, Indians, and ilrabians, fled — 
And the Sabseans turned the back and sped : 
The queen herself is seen the wind to hail, 
To loose her ropes and spread the bulging sail. 745 

Her, pale with fate, with slaughter overworn, 
The God of fire had limned Iapyx-bome, 
And Nilus grieving spreading his broad vest, 
Calling his sons to his cerulean breast, [750 

On his reed-shaded wave to give the vanquished rest. 

In trifold triumph, through the Koman walls 
Caesar returns, and to her Gods instals 
Three hundred Temples to redeem his vows, 
And victim steers on every shrine bestows ; 
And every temple, every altar round, 755 

The matron choirs of joy and praise resound. 
He on the snowy porch of Phoebus waits, 
Accepts the people's gifts, and dedicates. 

r2 



244 THE ^NEIS. Book VIII. 

Long files of conquered captives lined the way, 

Various in language, garb and arms are they ; 760 

Numidians, Lelegans, and Carians, 

G-elonian archers, loose garbed Africans, 

And the Morini — earth's extremest sons : 

With humbled waters there Euphrates runs, 

Dahse untamed, and Ehine bicorned flows by, 765 

Araxes, 'neath its bridge, passing indignantly. 

Such was the shield, such the Vulcanian prize 
Venus displayed to her son's joyful eyes, 
Fraught with the future fates and Koman destinies. 



Book XI. THE ^ENEIS. 245 



BOOK IX. 

But on the other hand Saturnian Juno fought. 

Iris, dismissed from high, unto the court 

Of old Pilumnus stooped ; where Turnus sate 

In his sire's sacred grove, in moody state ; 

As through the holy gloom her brightness broke, 5 

'Twas thus the rosy lipped Thaumantias spoke : 

" Turnus arise, revolving time, unsought, 

Has brought us blessing past our fondest thought. 

iEneas, quitting comrades, camp and fleet, 

Sought Palatine, the "King Evander's seat ; 10 

And now at furthest Corythum he stands, 

Collecting rustic hinds and Lydian bands. 

Now drive distrust and vacillation far, 

Now yoke the steed and mount the warlike car, 

Seize their camp half-deserted." 

The Goddess said ; 15 
On pinions broad then heavenward she sped, 
The bow and cloud cerulean veiled her head. 

The warrior heard, and raising up his hands 
To her departing, supplicating stands, 
" Iris ! Grace of Heaven, at whose behest 20 

Dost thou to earth descend a welcome guest ? 
Why broke such light celestial through this gloom ? 
I see heaven open, and the stars resume 
Their places in the sphere : Thou call'st to war, 
Thou biddest me — thy counsels holy are." 25 



246 THE ^ENEIS. Book IS. 

He said, libating from the fountain head, 
And many a God invoked and vows he made. 

And now the martial panoply 's unrolled, 
Horses and painted vests and cloth of gold. 
Messapus led the van : the Latin train 30 

Composed the rear ; and Turnus heads the main. 

So by its seven tributaries fed, 
Flows silent Ganges, or old Mlus led 
From saturated fields, back to his native bed. 

The Trojans mark the clouds of dust arise, 35 

And from the beacon mole Caicus cries, 
" Trojans to arms ! some turmoil comes this way ; 
Back to the camp — it is the foe — away !" 
The Trojans seized their arms, obeyed the call, 
Kushed to the camp and lined the intrenching wall. 40 
For so iEneas parting gave command :-— 
Should Fortune bring the foeman, to withstand 
All martial aspiration, to forbear 
The lot of arms, nor battle-field to dare. 
Obeying precepts, they the portals closed, 45 

And turrets to assaulting foes opposed. 

The ardent Turnus, ever in the front, 
With twenty horse appeared to bide the brunt. 
Him, a bespotted Thracian courser bore, 
And the red crest floated his helmet o'er. 50 

" Warriors," he cried, " who first will meet me here, 
Here on this field ? " He cast his spear in air, 



Book IX. THE ^NEIS. 247 

Prelusive of the fight with gesture proud ; 

His comrades gathering up, with war-cries loud. 

But none replied ; and they to fear impute 55 

The Trojan discipline and voices mute. 

And Turnus spurred the camp's entrenchments round, 

An ingress seeking to the embattled mound — 

Like to the rabid wolf that haunts the fold, 

'Midst night and darkness, 'midst the storm and cold, 60 

Whilst by their mother dams the lambkins lie, — 

Thwarted and savage, baffled fences by, 

Hunger him gnaws, his thirsty muzzle dry, 

Not otherwise that hot Kutulian's path 

The camp around, with self-consuming wrath ; 65 

Not otherwise he sought and sought again 

To burst their camp or taunt them to the plain ; 

Then as he rode he marked the vessels lay, 

By dikes defended, floating in the bay. 

To his applauding comrades he commands 70 

To fire the fleet — and armed with fire-brands 

They hear, obey : a flaming pine he bore, 

Headlong they follow and invade the shore, 

From every hearth they snatch the rushing fire, 

And Vulcan, smoke and ash to heaven aspire. 75 

What God, Muses, then opposed that flame, 
What power preserved the fleet, averted shame, 
Do ye declare, while we lend credent ears 
To that which Fame perennial declares. 

When Phrygian Ida to iEneas gave 80 

A refuge and a fleet to cross the wave, 



248 THE JENEIS. Book IX. 

Then the great mother of the Gods above, 

Then Berecynthia's Goddess spoke to Jove : 

" My son, to whom Olympus bows, hear 

Thy mother to thee sue, and grant her prayer. 85 

Those sylvan pines sacred to me which were, 

Which holy Ida on her summit bare ; 

The crowning grove of maple-tree and pine, 

Which witnessed many rites of votaries mine ; 

Which for the Trojan fleet I gladly gave, 90 

For them I pray, solicitous to save : 

reassure me, promise me that ne'er 

Shall tide them overwhelm nor tempest sear, 

And let it profit them — mine own they were." 

To whom her son who rules the starry state : 95 

" mother mine ! what dost thou ask of Fate ; 
Have keels constructed by the mortal hand 
A claim the lot of mortals to withstand ? 
Or hath iEneas in man's chequered lot 
Immunity from ill, which Heaven hath not ? 100 

It cannot be ; this only may I do : 
They which the winds and waves pass safely through, 
And land their chief upon Laurentum's shore, 
They shall forsake the body that each wore, 
And like Nereian Doto shall they roam, — 105 

Or Galateia when she rides the foam, 
As Nereids immortal." 

Jove bowed his pride, 
Olympus trembling, as he ratified 



Book IX. THE .2ENEIS. 249 

By Styx the promise — by the torrents rude 

And pitchy whirlpools of his brother's flood. 110 

Now was that day, now that revolving hour 
Fate was fulfilled, and Turnus with his power 
Aggressive, moved the Berecynthian dame 
To work her will and save her pines from flame. 

Then flashed another fire on mortal eyes, 115 

And a bright cloud spread from Auroran skies, 
With choirs Idasan ; then words through the air 
Startled the Trojan and Kutulian ear : — 
" Trojans, desist ; leave to defend my care ;* 
Sooner shall Turnus fire the main, than sear 120 

One sacred pine : back to your wonted sea, 
Back, Goddesses marine : Cybele sets ye free." 

Then with a bound each burst her mooring chain 
And plunged, as plunge the dolphins in the main, 
And rising thence displayed to mortal view — 125 

O marvellous ! — a maiden's face and hue ; 
Steering through waves, in number as before, 
With brazen prows they ranked upon the shore. 
Amazed, Butulians saw — Messapus reins 
His startled steeds, himself with thrilling veins ; 130 
E'en Tiber ceased his hollow banks to lave, 
And stayed the progress of his deep-toned wave ; 
Turnus alone, Turnus still pushes on, 
Haranguing thus, with louder, prouder tone, 
" These omens threat the Trojans and not us, — 135 

Jove now forsakes that people timorous ; 



250 THE ^ENEIS. Book IX. 

Assault they flee, but flight is theirs no more, 

The sea snatched from them, ours is the shore ; 

Ours are the shores and lands, nor theirs the main ; 

False are their Phrygian oracles and vain. 140 

Venus and Fate already are fulfilled, 

The fields Ausonian they have held and pilled ; 

Now my fates rule : I oracles have too, 

To sweep from off the earth a raiding crew, 

My betrothed coveting ; for not alone belongs 145 

To kings Atridan Mycenaean wrongs 

And ravishers. But who would not have thought 

Enough their former chastisement had wrought, 

To change their lust to hate of womankind. 

Have not yon very men who skulk behind 150 

Yon dikes and trenches, have they not beheld 

The walls of Troy Neptunian, felled and quelled, 

Succumb in fiery flame ? Say, comrades, say, 

Will ye not o'er yon trenches break a way, 

And beard them in their den, of fields afraid ? 155 

It needs no arms Vulcanian, nor aid 

Of thousand keels. But let them, rest to-night, 

Let them ally Etruscans to their might, — 

For no Palladium will we break their ward, 

Surprise their citadel, or slay their guard ; 160 

Let them not dread a hollow-bellied horse ; 

By day it shall be, and by martial force, 

When to yon walls we set the fire-brands — 

Nor, like Achivan and Pelasgian bands, 

Stand baffled, ten years, by some Hector's hands. 165 



Book IX. THE ^NEIS. 251 

But now to rest, this day is right well done ; 
To-morrow ends the work to-day begun." 

Then to Messapus he consigned the ward, 
To kindle watch-fires and the camp to guard ; 
Twice seven Kutulian chieftains, with a band 170 

Each of a hundred men, then took command ; 
A hundred youth, with purple crests and gold, 
By turns who rested and by turns patrolled. 
Upon the greensward and by beacon light 
They drank and gambled deep to cheat the night. 175 

The Trojans meantime from their wall descried 
The foe with anxious hearts ; they fortified 
Eamparts and outposts by the bridges high, 
Patrolling all and watched with jealous eye. 
Muestheus and brave Serestus held command ; 180 

iEneas ere he went had to their hand 
Committed all, — a chosen watch and ward 
Patrol the walls, with a most strict regard. 

Nisus held ward, Nisus Hyrtacides ; 
A soldier's soul and hunter's arm was his — . 185 

Ida the huntress to iEneas gave 
In him a comrade true and warrior brave. 
Euryalus, his consort, too, was there, 
Than whom no Trojan comelier or more fair. 
No steel had yet profaned his youthful beard ; 190 

Inseparable they, in field or guard — 
Together now the portal pass they trod — 
When Nisus said : 

" Is it a present God 



252 THE ^NEIS. Book IX. 

Inspires my mind — or doth my heart create 

Its phantom God, and frame its own deceit ? 195 

Euryalus, — the blood within my veins, 

My very soul, this passive war disdains. 

Behold how carelessly our foemen lie ; 

Their watchfires glimmer, as beneath the sky 

Wearied with play they sleep : all seems at rest. 200 

Yon camp is hushed, as turmoiled is my breast, 

Turmoiled with indignation and desires. 

Euryalus, the present need requires 

.ZEneas back : princes and people fain 

To spare a troop, to have him back again ; 205 

If they will grant to thee, what I shall ask, — 

For fame is my reward, — be mine that task. 

Beyond yon mound I'll pass their careless powers 

To friendly Pallanteum's walls and towers." 

With admiration smitten, and with pride 210 

Of his high-minded friend — the boy replied, 
" And I — am I disdained, cast off to be ? 
O Nisus, would you do this without me, 
As worthless in such dangerous emprize ? 
Son of my sire Opheltes, I despise — 215 

Nursed 'midst the Grecian and the Trojan war — 
The dangers which to glory adjunct are, 
The great iEneas following from my youth ; 
You know it well, you know I speak the truth ; 
My soul disdains to live contempt beneath, 220 

Honour is cheaply bought, with vital breath." 

Nisus replied, "Distrust you? never I — • 
So prosper me Omnipotence on high ! 



Book IX. THE ^NEIS. 253 

So may whoe'er the God that tends on us 

Kender me back again victorious : 225 

But if, as sometimes haps, that fate forbodes 

Some chance from fortune or from hostile Gods, 

Your youth unsacrificed will still survive, 

With friendly aid, to ransom me alive, 

Or to redeem and sepulchre my dust. 230 

But if my doom and if harsh fortune must 

Deny e'en that, yet on my empty tomb 

Appease the gods infernal and their doom ; 

Yea build my sepulchre. Your mother, too, 

She the sole matron, who to follow you 235 

Benounced Acesta's rest — we must not be 

The cause to her of childless misery." 

But he, Euryalus, rejoined, " Away, 

Your empty reasons fail my mind to sway ; 

Let us away." And the relieving guard 240 

Appearing then, fulfilled their hours of ward, 

They left and straightway sought the council board. 

The mortal world was then enlapped in sleep ; 
Man's sorrows in forgetfulness lay steeped, 
Save to the Trojan peers and delegates, 245 

And mighty matters prompted their debates. 
In midst of arms, armed they deliberate, 
The question being, how communicate 
.ZEneas with, and who the messenger. 
Then Nisus and Euryalus stood there 250 

Requiring audience ; matter of moment they 
Averred they bore, admitting no delay. 



254 THE iENEIS. Book IX. 

Breathless they came — lulus them receives 

And bids them speak ; then thus Hyrtacides : 

" Hear me, iEneadse ; hear, nor weigh 255 

Our years untried 'gainst our proposed essay. 

Buried in sleep and wine, Kutulians lie — 

A road unguarded, lies the ocean by, 

Where near the haven the road parts in twain ; 

Their smoke obscures the stars, the watchfires wane. 260 

If Fortune sanction it, we ask to bear 

iEneas tidings ; he will reappear 

Cumbered with spoil and red with slaughtered foes. 

Well do we know the course the river flows, 

For ofttimes hunting have we marked uprear 265 

The Pallantean towers in mid-air." 

He ceased, and rose to speak Alethes staid, 
Of years and thought mature : " Ye Gods," he said, 
" Ye Deities of Troy, who guard us well, 
Whilst hearts like these within our children dwell." 270 
He said, and strained them in a strict embrace, 
And the full tear ran down his aged face. 
" Warriors," he said, " a due reward for this 
Beyond our gift, beyond our power is. 
But deeds like these, the Deities regard, 275 

And fame and honour are the heart's reward ; 
Such act the just iEneas will requite, 
And young Ascanius never will it slight." 

" And I," Ascanius added, " who desire 

As earth's best blessing to recall my sire, 280 



Book IX. THE .ENEIS. 255 

Nisus, by my household Gods, the Lar 

Assarican, I swear ; by crypts that are 

Sacred to hoary Vesta, do I swear 

Henceforth with thee my future weal to share, 

If thou bring back my sire and dissipate 285 

The clouds now gathering round the Trojan state. 

Two silver flagons, perfect in design, 

Paid in Arisba's ransom, shall be thine ; 

An antique bowl Sidonian Dido gave, 

A pair of golden tripods, shaft thou have, 290 

And talents two of gold : and if yon powers 

By law of arms and victory be ours, 

Then shall the armour and the steed bestrode 

By pompous Turnus, glittering as he rode, 

From lot exempted be awarded thine ; 295 

Twelve captive warriors shall my sire assign, 

Their arms and armour ; and twelve captive dames, 

And all the lands that king Latinus claims. 

And thou co-mate in years and worthiest boy, 

My friend and comrade be — in sorrow, joy, 300 

Or glory or disaster — peace or war, 

Be thou my comrade and my counsellor." 

" may the sun ne'er rise that may behold 

My soul degenerate or purpose cold," 

Euryalus replied — " But yet I have a prayer, 305 

One boon to ask of thee — my mother dear, 

Of Priam's royal race, who left the shores 

Of Ilium and Acesta — who endures 



256 THE ^SNEIS. Book IX. 

Exile for me, and whom I quit, e'en thus, 

A mission on, doubtful and perilous — 310 

For by this night and thy right hand I swear 

Her tears and misery I cannot bear — 

comfort her, console her, let her not 

To destitution by my act be brought — 

Of that assured, with spirit light I go, 315 

Careless of danger — fearless of the foe." 

He struck the heart's chord, and the hearers wept ; 
But through the bosom of lulus swept, 
Eeflected thence, this burst of filial love. 
He answering said — " may my actions prove 320 

Worthy my promise, worthy of thy worth, 
Be she my mother also from henceforth j 
Thou prosperous or unprosperous the same, 
My mother all, save in Creusa's name": 
Now by my head, I swear, my father's oath, 325 

My promise unto one is made to both, 
To all — that to thy father's house belong." 
Tearful he spoke, and from his neck un slung 
The golden sword Lycaon's art had made, 
And ivory scabbard for its Gnossian blade. 330 

His lion's hide Mnestheus on Nisus threw ; 
And his own helm Alethes good and true. 

So they departed led by small and great, 
With vows and aspirations to the gate ; 
lulus young with presidential care, 335 

Injunctions speaking for his father's ear, 
Injunctions for the winds, words uttered to the air. 



Book IX. THE ^NEIS. 257 

They passed the fosse the shade of night beneath, 
And trod the hostile camp, preluding death : 
Immersed in wine and sleep men lay around, 340 

'Midst banquetiugs and armours on the ground 
And chariots bristling ; the wearied charioteer 
Slumbered amidst the wheels and coursers' gear. 

Then first Hyrtacides : " Euryalus, 

Yon lies our way, and fortune favours us — 345 

Keep thou a space behind and guard the track, 

Lest foes assail us from behind our back ; 

My arm shall carve the way and passage through." 

Whispering he said : on Ehamnes then he flew, 

And slaughtered him — unconsciously who lay 350 

In gorgeous tent and slept the night away. 

A king he was, augur king Turnus to, 

But augury did not foretell him true. 

And next three serving men he slaughtered there : 

The armour-bearer, and the charioteer 355 

Of Kemus, found the horses couched among, 

And cut their pendant throats that nerveless hung. 

Remus their lord, next he decapitates, 

And passed their throbbing trunks and gory pates. 

Lamus and Lamyrus, Serranus young, 360 

In play and deep debauch indulging long, 

Had slept the latest : happier had their play 

Equalled the night and ushered in the day. 

So when the famished lion leaps the fold, 

Mute with affright the trembling lambs behold 365 



258 THE JENEIS. Book IX. 

Him, tearing and destroying to the full, 

Urged on by hunger unappeaseable. 

Nor was Euryalus behind more slack, 

ISTor blood nor slaughter less proclaimed his track : 

Of common men, Fadus and Abarim, 370 

And Hebesus and Khoetus fell to him ; 

But Khoetus watchful and awaking fled, 

And in a monstrous caldron hid his head, 

As there surprised he rose, received the blow 

Deep in his breast, and he fell slaughtered so — 375 

Yielding his spirit in a fate condign, 

Voiding his purple soul, in blood and wine. 

Euryalus elated held his course 
To where Messapus fed his tethered horse. 
Grazing in peace the tethered steeds were left, 380 

The watchfires slumbered and the watchmen slept. 
Then Nisus briefly spoke ; too well he fears, 
Too much of slaughter and success is theirs. 
" Halt there," he said, " unwelcome daylight springs : 
Our course is clear, cease we these slaughterings." 385 
They left the prey, the armour and the bowls, 
The solid silver and the purple folds, 
Save that Euryalus the trappings rare 
And golden studded belt that Khamnes' were — 
Which wealthy Csedicus of old bestowed 390 

On Kemulus of Tibur, friendship owed, 
Who dying, these descended to his heirs 
Till lost and won in the Kutulian wars — 
Euryalus these seized and stripped the slain ; 



Book IX. THE ^ENEIS 259 

Messapus' crested helmet, too, has ta en ; 395 

And left the camp and sought the safer plain. 

But now three hundred horsemen gallopped down, 
Buckler'd, to Turnus, from the Latin town ; 
Volscens their leader ; bearing to their king 
The promise of their legion following. 400 

'Twas now they touched the camp and drew the rein, 
As our flushed warriors issued to the plain. 
The helmet of Euryalus beamed through 
The shades of night betraying them to view, 
And Volscens cried, " What, ho ! who passes there, 405 
Stand and unfold your purpose, and declare 
Whither so bound by night ? " Answer to whom 
Nought did they give, but scudded to the gloom 
And won the brake : the horsemen gallopped round 
And scattered to the pathways of its bound. 410 

The wood was wide, the ilex threw its shade 
O'er brake and bramble, and thick darkness made ; 
Few were the forest paths to intervene, 
And few the tracks of beasts those paths between ; 
There lagged Euryalus — the heavy spoil 415 

And care of following adding to his toil ; 
But Nisus 'scaped, improvident ! he ran, 
Alba he reached — in speech Albanian 
Since called, where king Latinus built his stalls. 
He stood, and on his absent friend he calls, 420 

" Euryalus — 

Euryalus, unhappy ! where art thou ? 
Where did I lose thee, whither seek thee now ? " 

s 2 



260 THE -2ENEIS. Book IX. 

Again he plunged the devious wood within, 

Again he tracked the course which he had been, 

Again he hurried through the silent shade, 425 

Again the horsemen heard and yells they made — 

He heard their clamours, thither then he pressed, 

And saw Euryalus with force oppressed : 

Perplexed and puzzled the brave boy, who bore — 

Dealing vain blows — alone unequal war. 430 

But how to aid him, how to liberate, 

Or by his side to share an equal fate, 

Aud close life mortal in immortal death ? 

Poised was the spear his body swayed beneath, 

When the bright Dian beaming from the skies, 435 

With her full rays smote his uplifted eyes — 

" Goddess," he said, " thou guardian of the grove, 

Queen of the stars and grace of heaven above, 

Dost thou regard — a present deity ? 

Aid me, propitious Power — if e'er for me 440 

My father Hyrtacus enwreathed thy shrine, 

And if it never incense lacked of mine ; 

If from thy dome and pedimented nave 

My firstlings of the chase depended have, 

guide my weapon and confound yon crew ! " 445 

He said, and through the gloom the weapon flew : 

Sulmo it struck, right through the back the spear 

Transfixed the heart, and snapping halted there. 

He fell — his sobs betrayed the inward strife, 

As slowly welled the tepid tide of life. * 450 

The rest entranced beheld ; another flies, 

Another weapon whistles from the skies ; 



Book IX. THE ^NEIS. 261 

They trembling heard: Tagus the weapon slew, 

Pierced his hot brain and passed his temples through. 

Volscens, he raves ; no enemy in sight, 455 

Nought visible the slaughtered to requite. 

" 'Tis thou shalt pay for both ! thy captive blood 

Shall pay the pains for my two followers good ! " 

Volscens exclaimed ; and with his unsheathed sword 

Made at Euryalus. Then farewell fraud, 460 

Nisus sprang forth to view — " I did the deed ; 

On me, on me, I am the man to bleed — 

ve Kut ulians, mine the whole design : 

He durst not, could not, — all the crime is mine. 

Heaven I attest ; ye conscious stars attend ; 465 

His only fault — too well to love his friend." 

In vain he pleads — the ruthless blade descends, 
His side transfixes and his bosom rends ; 
The falling corpse in blood and death declines, 
The nerveless neck, the shoulder on, reclines : 470 

So falls the purple blossom, that the spade 
Uprooted has to wither and to fade ; 
So falls the poppy — which with storm bestead 
And overcharged with dew, bends down its head. 

And Nisus in their midst — but only one, 475 

Volscens, he seeks, and Volscens seeks alone : 
In vain his path around the foemen hem, 
Onward he rushed, with flashing steel to stem, 
And in the face of the Kutulian chief 
He buried it, its last and dying sheath ; 480 

For on the bosom of his friend he fell, 
Content to fall on that he loved so w^ell. 



262 THE ^NEIS. Book IX. 

happy both ! — if immortality 
Live in my song, your fame shall never die ; 
Whilst on the Capitol immovable, . 485 

And as its rocky basis durable, 
Eomanus and the house iEneian rule. 

The troop Eutulian firstly stripped the slain, 
And wailing bore their leader o'er the plain. 
In camp was equal wailing ; slaughter round, 490 

Numa, Serranus, Khamnes headless, found : 
The mighty concourse silently regard 
The bleeding trunks yet warm — the steaming sward 
Drunken with blood ; and turn to marvel more, 
To recognise the spoils the Latins bore; 495 

Lost and redeemed at such expense of gore. 

From Tithon's croceate bed Aurora springs, 
The daylight juts anew on eastern wings, 
Sol reinvests and gladdens mortal things ; 
Turnus is up, Turnus harangues to arms, 500 

Inspires the fearful and the fearless warms ; 
Rumour and he there revelling aloud. 
Besides, with mighty clamourings, a crowd 
Bearing the heads — miserable sight ! 
Bearing the heads aloft on spearheads dight, 505 

Of Nisus and Euryalus. 

Assaulting foes 
Meantime the firm iEneadas oppose ; 
The river flanked their right ; their left they man ? 
The fosse and turrets, with their battle van. 



Book IX. THE ^NEIS. 263 

Mournful they stood — the heads, borne by the shore, 510 

They recognised despite polluting gore. 

Whilst winged Fame scuds through the frighted town, 

And on the ears, the mother's ears, lights down ; 

Blood flees her cheek and heat deserts her bone, 

The shuttle stops, its revolutions done ; 515 

Forward she springs — again the female cry, 

The woman's crv of sorrow mounts on hio-h — 

Freed her gray hairs, nor man nor danger heeds, 

Nor fears man's weapon forward as she speeds — 

" 'Tis he— Euryalus ! 

My boy, my boy, — 520 

Of my old age sole solace, only joy, — 
Have you deserted me ? — did you run 
In danger's path and shunned me, my son ! 
Alas, alas ! on lands unknown you stay, 
Of Latin dogs and Latin birds the prey. 525 

No rites, no mother's wail, no obsequies, 
With unwashed wounds and with unclosed eyes. 
And naked — naked — I who night and day 
Worked but for you, charming mine age away. 
And now where lies his body — his remains ? 530 

Lo ! now the end of voyages and pains — 
Cast, Butulians, cast your darts on me, 
In pity cast, and end my misery ! 
mighty Father of the Gods, do thou 
This hated head in Tartarus bestow, 535 

Grant me the aid mortals refuse below ! " 

So raved the matron, and the warriors groaned ; 
Unbent by wars, their manly spirits moaned. 



264 THE .ENEIS. Book IX. 

Ilioneus and lulus gave commands, 

And Actor and Idaeus, in their hands 540 

Uplifted, bore her home. 

Then trumpets rung, 
And clamour rose the answering skies among. 
Volsci afoot, their tortoise moving on, 
The fosse to fill, the vallum to tear down ; 
With scaling ladders they the gate assail, 645 

Where'er its circling spears appeared to fail. 
But the besieged defensive arms employ, 
Well taught by practice in the wars of Troy : 
Hard iron prongs protrude, and rocks they cast, 
Kocks of enormous weight, dimensions vast, 550 

To break the tortoise. But the daring foe 
Trust in long-found security below — 
Unequal force ; the well-compacted field, 
Crushed by the thundering rock, is made to yield. 
The bold Butulians trust blind force no more, 555 

But urge an open and a missile war. 
Right in the fosse the dread Mezentius stands, 
The pine Etruscan and the torch in hand — 
Messapus, steed subduer, heading all, 
Tears down the vallum and assaults the wall. 560 

Muses tell, Calliope, say, 

What deeds and slaughters Turnus did that day ; 

What shades to.Orcus, w T arrior shades he sent ; 

With me detail each notable event, 

Goddesses, ye can, with song and memory blent. 565 



Book IX. THE iENEIS. 265 

A tower arose pre-eminently "there, 
An outpost with its bridges reared in air, 
Thither their hot assault the Latins led ; 
And there against them the besieged made head ; 
Stones from its battlements and darts they throw 570 
From hollow casements on the hosts below. 
Turnus is there, a flaming torch in hand 
He to the structure fixed the fire-brand ; 
The winds assist, the planks involve in fume, 
And the strong posts with carking flame consume. 575 
And now the troubled Trojans fled the heat ; 
But whilst they gathered, whilst they would retreat, 
The ruin sinks, the tower toppling falls, 
And heaven resounds the blow — the ruined walls, 
The planks and engines fallen, crushed the main, 580 
By their own darts transfixed, own weapons slain, 
Save Lycus and Helenor. 

Lycimnia fair, 
A slave, in secret this Helenor bare 
To the Ma?onian king ; and sent her boy 
In unaccorded arms of war to Troy, 585 

A naked sword and an unscutcheoned shield. 
So he confronts the Latins in the field, 
And as the stag encircled by the ring 
Of hunters, takes the unadvised spring 
And leaps on death, and dashes on the spear, 590 

Not otherwise doth the hemmed warrior dare, 
Dashing 'midst thickest foes and dying there. 

But Lycus, swift of foot, athwart the plain, 
Hoping through hostile hosts the wall to gain, 



266 THE ^ENEIS. Book IX. 

Leaps at the battlements and seeks the aid 595 

Of hands above ; but Turnus following said, 

Close at his heels and touching with his spear, 

"Fool ! swift of foot and nimble though you are, 

Escape you shall not ;" as to earth he flung 

Him and the battlement whereto he clung : 600 

So stoops the bird of Jove, his armiger, 
To truss the snowy swan or dusky hare ; 
So from beneath the udders of its dam, 
The wolf of Mars snatches the bleating lamb. 

Then rose the Latin shout and battle din, 605 

Then they assailed the agger, and within 
The very walls their flaming torches cast. 
Then Ilioneus with fragment vast 
Of riven rock, the very threshold on, 
Firing the gates, Lucetius slew upon : 610 

Then Liger's spear laid Emathion low, 
Asylas Chorinseus with his bow, 
Caeneus Ortygius slew or ere he fell 
Himself to Turnus ; Turnus slew as well 
Clonius, Promulus, Dioxippus, and 615 

Itys and Ida, Sagaris, with brand. 
Capys, Privernus doubly wounded, slew, — 
Themilla's spear the first his blood that drew. 
He dropped the shield to press the wounded part, [620 
When the shaft nailed the hand and pierced the heart. 

And there in arms the son of Arcens shone 
With dyes Iberian, broidered chlamys, known ; 



Book IX. THE ^NEIS. 267 

From Mars, his grove, and the SimaBthian streams, 
And where the fane of the Palici beams 
Benignant now and kind. 

Mezentius whirled the sling, 625 
With arms deposed awhile, he loosed the string, — 
Full on his forehead smote the whizzing lead, 
And struck to dust his fair and comely head. 

And there Ascanius fought ; his bow, which erst 
In sylvan warfare bent essayed its first, 630 

Now bent in warfare and in manly strife. 
He sped the shaft which took Numanor's life, 
He Eemulus surnamed, and wedded to 
Turnus's youngest sister ; full in view, 
Swollen with new-blown dignity and pride, 635 

He stalked before the Trojan lines and cried : 
"Again besieged, again encooped in hold; 
Twice captive Phrygians, behind bulwarks bold ! 
xlre ye the men that seek our maidens' hands ? 
What god or madness led ye to these lands ? 640 

Here no Atridae nor smooth Ithacan, 
Albeit with theirs our hardy race began : 
To the cold stream our new-born babes we bear, 
Their limbs with icy waters hardened are ; 
The bow and chase and steed our boys delight, 645 

Our youth the labouring steer or deadly fight ; 
The soil they till, cities they overthrow, 
And the spear goads the oxen at the plough ; 
The use of arms doth everyone know here, 
Nor age debilitates the mind nor fear, 650 



268 THE JENEIS. Book IX. 

The bleach'd locks don the casque, and well we thrive 

By daily rapine and by raids we live. 

Yours is the croceate garb and purple vest, 

The song and dance your toils, the couch your rest, 

Sleeved tunics, mitras filletted, ye wear. 655 

Phrygian women ! hence, I say, repair 

To Dyndyma ; where modulated sounds 

Of flutes and tabors call you to the bounds 

Of Ida's Berecynthian solitudes ; 

And quit this field, unsuited to your moods." 660 

So vaunted Remulus. Ascanius heard, 
And as he drew his bow his prayer preferred ; 
His hand on the horse sinew he repressed, 
He stayed the indignation of his breast. 
" Jupiter omnipotent ! " he said, 665 

" Aid this first effort, my first effort aid ; 
A bull with gilded horns shall fall to thee, 
With brows as broad as his own mother's be." 

The Father heard, and thundered on the left ; 
Through skies serene and clear the omen swept. 670 
Then twanged the string, the hissing arrow flew, 
And smote the head and hollow temples through. 
" Go now, taunt valour with opprobrious words ; 
Twice captived Phrygians to Eutulian lords 
Send such reply ! " the young Ascanius said : 675 

The Trojans' shout a worthy response made. 

Golden-haired cloud-borne Phoebus, passing by 
The realm Ausonian, marked from ether high : 



Book IX. THE .3ENEIS. 269 

" Go on, illustrious boy, to heaven aspire ; 

Sprung from the gods, of gods the future sire, 680 

A scion of the house Assaracan 

Shall, one day, war with fetters bind and ban : 

Troy was not worthy thee." Apollo said, 

As, from his seat on high, the Godhead sped, 

And downward tending took the form and face 685 

Of Butes old ; and on the walls his place. 

Anchises' armiger in days of yore, 

Old Butes led his grandson now to war. 

Wrinkled and with blanched locks, the God addressed 

The flushed lulus, and his zeal repressed : 690 

"Enough, ^Eneicle! the deed that's done ; 

Unhurt, unharmed, the conquest thou hast won ; 

Apollo thee applauds with honours due, 

And joys to own a rival to his bow ; 

Enough, now, boy, desist : " Apollo said, 695 

As he resumed his form divine and sped 

With quiver, shaft-resounding, to his skies. 

Him did the Dardan leaders recognise : 

Obedient to the mandate, they restrained 

The ardent boy from battle ; they remained 700 

Themselves to answer every urgent call, 

Defending every bulwark of the wall. 

The stubborn bows they bend, amenta* writhe, 

In fierce and rugged warfare both sides strive ; [705 

Darts strike and glance, their weapons strew the ground, 

With blows the helms and hollow shields resound : 

* An obsolete engine. 



270 THE iENEIS. Book IX. 

So when Auriga and the Kids arise, 

And from the west bring storm and watery skies, 

Doth Ausier liberated rage, and Jove 

Enwrapped in hollow clouds resound above. 710 

Bitias and Pandarus, two brothers, sprung 
Alcanor from, Idaaan ; born among 
The groves of Jupiter, Hiera bare 
Those giant sons, and educated there ; 
In their strength proud and insubordinate, 715 

They open threw the portals of the gate, 
Challenged the foe, and right and left they stood 
Instead of towers, to hold the passage good. 
In iron clad and crested helms on high, 
Like two young oaks, the mighty waters by 720 

Of Mincius or Eridanus — that wave 
With crests unshorn and rattling tempests brave. 
In rushed Kutulians, prompt to seize the hold ; 
Quercens, Equicolus, and Tmarus bold, 
Mavortian HaBmon, and as quickly fled, 725 

Save who, within the narrow pass, fell dead. 
Then rose discordant shouts and rage again, 
And to that post the Trojans thronged amain, 
And flushed with slaughter, and with triumph too, 
Presumed to sally forth and to pursue. 730 

A messenger to Turnus brought elsewhere 
The tidings that the portals open were. 
Wrathful and foiled, his bosom beamed again, 
As off he rushed to battle on the plain. 
Antiphates he met — the son, base-born, 735 

Sarpedon of, by Theban dame forlorn. 



Book IX. THE ^NEIS. 271 

Him Tumus met ; the Italian cornel flew, 

His breast it pierced and the black blood-tide drew, — 

The vital lungs received the point of steel. 

Merops, Aphydnus, Erymanthns fell ; 740 

And Bitias, of ardent eyes and soul, 

Not with a dart — for darts have no control 

On frames like his — a bolt falarican 

Turnus dismissed like lightning ; on it span 

Through two bull's-hides, two plates of gold it went, 745 

The shield and breastplate passed, with force unspent, 

Prone on his shield the warrior fell to ground, — 

Earth echoed the reverberated sound : 

So upon Baiae's once Euboean shore 

Drops the enormous mole, projecting o'er 750 

The realm of ocean — prone the rocky pile 

Falls on the smitten wave, which parts awhile, 

Until recumbent by its base it lies ; 

When waters roar and sable sands arise : 

Echo the cliffs of Prochyta afar ; 755 

Echoes Inarime — the island bar 

Imposed Typhoeus on, by Jupiter. 

Now Mars descending mingled in the fight : 
O'er Latin hearts poured confidence and might ; ■ [760 
Black dread the Trojans on, with panic, fear, and flight. 
Forward the Latins rushed, as in each breast 
The martial spirit of the Godhead pressed. 
But Pandarus, who beheld his brother slain, 
And fortune adverse on the battle plain, 



272 THE ^ENEIS. Book IX. 

Applied his shoulders to the gate, to close 765 

The creaking hinge and portal to the foes. 

And many a hapless Trojan by that deed 

Excluded was in hopeless fight to bleed ; 

And on the other hand included were 

Kutulians many — Madman ! to mark not there, 770 

Like to a thirsty tiger in the fold, 

The Latin chieftain pent within the hold — 

Turnus, with flashing eyes and weapon steel'd, 

The crimson nodding crest and beaming shield? 

Him did the Trojans mark and recognise 775 

By his fierce bearing and his mighty size. 

But Pandarus, grieving sore his brother's fall, 

Then said— " Not this Amata's dotal hall, 

No walls paternal here — no Ardea this, , 

But a camp hostile, whence no exit is." 780 

Turnus responded him with tone sedate, 
" Strike, sith so brave you are, and meet your fate ; 
Tell Priam how you found Achilles here." 

Then Pandarus his rough and knotted spear 
Hurled with his strength ; fair did the weapon fly, 785 
Saturnian Juno turned its course awry — 
Through air it hurtled, fixing in the door. 

Turnus continued — " Thy last hope is o'er, 
Not thine the force nor Daunian brand I wield." 
Sheer on his forehead fell the weapon steeled, 780 

It smote the head, and passing through the brain, 
Cleft the unbearded face and neck in twain ; 
Down dropped a gory cheek on either side, 
As prone to earth the warrior dropped and died. 



Book IX. THE -3SNEIS. 273 

The Trojans fled : and had the victor then 795 

Unbarred the gate and let his comrades in, 
That day had closed the war and Trojan name; 
But rage unbridled, and the lust of fame 
And carnage lured him on. 

Then Phalaris 
And Gyges with lopped leg, and Prytanis, 800 

First fell; their spears their comrades slew; 
Juno the strength supplied. The buckler through, 
Phegeos he fell ; and Halys as he fled ; 
And on the walls, as unawares they sped, 
Alcandros, H alius, Noemon, and 805 

Lynceus, who well aware called on his band 
And comrades to beware ; with sheer descent 
Clean through the flexile neck the weapon went, 
And the helm'd head rolled tumbling o'er and o'er. 
And Am yens the hunter, to the war 810 

Lured from the sylvan chase and poisoned gear ; 
And Clytius iEolides ; and dear — 
Dear to the Muses, as the muse to him, 
Creteas, who loved the lyre and the hymn ; 
Chanting in numbers as the notes replied — 815 

War ever was his theme ; a warrior's death he died. 
At length the Trojan chieftains sought the scene, 
Where fame proclaimed such slaughter to have been. 
Mnestheus and stern Serestus findins; there 
Turnus triumphant, flight and panic fear ; 820 

" Where, whither are you fleeing?" Mnestheus cried, 
" Or have ye walls or battlements beside ? 
Before one man, Trojans, do ye flee 
And suffer slaughter with impunity ? 

T 



274 THE ^NEIS. Book IX. 

O fallen country — degenerate race ! 825 

How shall we meet iEneas face to face, 
Or how the grieving gods ? " 

The men addressed 
Turned in a mass, and upon Turnus pressed, 
Who pressed gave way, retreating to the bound 
Where the broad Tiber flanked the guarded ground ; 830 
Hotly and fiercely, Trojan troops appear, 
And, like a lion pressed by hunter's spear, 
Facing retreats, still threatening the foe ; 
So Turnus yields, with footstep firm and slow. 
Twice had he turned on the pursuers' path, 835 

Twice had they fled his fierce and deadly wrath ; 
But now whole bands advancing pressed him sore, 
Nor durst Saturnian Juno aid him more ; 
For Jupiter sent Iris through mid-air 
With stern injunctions to his sister's ear, 840 

Forbidding aid to Turnus in the walls. 

Then sinks the weighty shield, the right hand falls, 
The helm, the breastplate, and the shield must bear 
The rattling tempest of the stone and spear ; 
The helm is battered, the shield's boss is gone, 845 

The crest is rent, and Mnestheus coming on — 
Hot, wearied, faint, and breathless, by the flood 
The overpressed retreating warrior stood ; 
Armed as he was, he plunged into the wave : 
The yellow waters strength and refuge gave, 850 

Purged him of blood and slaughter, and restored 
To a rejoicing host, their Daunian lord. 



Book X. THE JSNEIS. 275 



BOOK ,X. 

Now Jupiter to the Olympian hall 

Convoked the Gods to council : thither all 

Repaired, where from the starry seat 

The world expanded was, and at their feet 

The camp, the Dardans, and the Latins lay. 5 

The Thunderer spoke : — " Offspring of Heaven, say 
Why disregarded thus and disobeyed 
Is our decree ? why is Italia made 
A field wherein to sow the seeds of hate 
And mortal struggle, 'gainst the will of fate ? 10 

Who raised unsanctioned discord and impelled 
The jealous warriors to yon bloodstained field? 
The day must come, but hasten not the hour 
Of war inevitable — when Punic power 
Must ravage Eoman territories, and 15 

Bursting the Alps will devastate her land. 
Then vent your hatreds and unbridled wills ; 
But cease the while, nor urge unsanctioned ills." 

So briefly Jove : then loveliest Venus rose, 
Indignantly, unwontedly verbose : 20 

" Father ! of gods and man, eternal king, 
To whom save Thee in peril can we cling ? 
Thou seest our foes, what the Eutulians dare ; 
Thou seest the car-borne Turnus victor there ; 

T 2 



276 THE MEMS. Book X. 

Our walls defend us not, the battle joins 25 

Within the portals and defensive lines : 

iEneas knows it not, he is afar : 

Is Troy then doomed to never-ending war, 

And wilt thou never grant her sons repose ? 

Lo ! where Tydides arms again our foes 30 

-ZEtolians at Arpi : Father ! must I again 

Bleed by a mortal arm, endure immortal pain ? 

If that, unsanctioned, disallowed thee by, 
Troy seeks Italian realm, do thou deny, 
Do thou repel ; but else, if she fulfils 35 

Of Heaven and Hades the high oracles, 
Who may oppose her fates and thy decrees ? 
Yet I remember the Siculian seas 
And fleet consumed ; and the .ZEolian king 
And unimprisoned vassals blustering, 40 

Iris the messenger — on cloud-borne wing. 
Yet I remember, rash expedient, 
The powers infernal loosed, Alecto sent 
To raid the earth and madden human hearts. 
We seek not empire now, for empire sorts 45 

With fortune only — fortune is thy will. 
But if the queen, thy wife, refuses still 
To us a resting-place, yet spare the boy — 
Oh, by the ashes and the stones of Troy, 
Spare young Ascanius from war and wrath ! 60 

iEneas, be it so, must urge his path 
Through stormy waters ; but the boy release 
From war and misery, to joy and peace. 



Book X. THE ^ENEIS. 277 

Cythera and Idalian groves divine, 

And soaring Paphos, Amathus, are mine — 55 

There let him, sword deposed, ignobly live. 

Then let the doomed Ausonia vainly strive 

And yield to Carthage : be it nought to him. 

But ah ! what profits it the war to stem, 

And thread the mazes of Argolic fire — 60 

For what ? to die in Latium, build the pyre 

In foreign shores and for a future doom. 

Better, far better in a native tomb, 

In native dust to rest, commingled low ; 

Where Troy once was, where Xanthus, Simois flow. 65 

Father 1 deny us not, rest and a home to know." 

Then stung with wrath, Saturnia replied : 
" Why am I forced to speak what shame would hide 
In decent silence — but my heart is wrung. 
Who persecutes thy son ? who does him wrong ? 70 

Who wars 'gainst him by kings and stratagem ? 
He led the Trojans, or he misled them 
To yonder shores — by Fate ! well be it so — 
Or ravings of Cassandra as I trow. 
Was't we beguiled him from his camp ; was't we 75 
Who bade him tempt the winds and trust the sea ? 
Was't we that prompted him to leave his towers — 
Left to his child, whilst he sues Tyrrhene powers ? 
What God was it, — deceptful power on high, 
Was't I — or cloud-borne Iris — was it I ? 80 

but 'tis monstrous, that young Turnus stands 
Armed to defend his violated lands ; 



278 THE ^NEIS. Book X. 

Turnus ! allied to Gods and Heaven, where 

Pilumnus and Yenilia thron'd appear. 

No, let the Trojans raid, the Trojans spoil, 85 

Let them take tribute of Hesperian soil, 

Let them coerce her princes, seize her brides, 

Moored in their vessels, safe on Tiber's tides ; 

Venus, forsooth, may snatch iEneas from 

The Grecian sword, and from impending doom 90 

Hide him from fate in a celestial screen ; 

Ay, and convert the ships to nymphs marine ; 

But we, should we assist his foes at all, 

Or aid our votaries — Oh ! 'tis criminal. 

iEneas absent is — a wanderer, far, 95 

And let him wander. Paphos, Cythera, are, 

And sacred groves Idalian, thine — thine own : 

Then leave us one rude hold and martial town. 

Not we the cause of Phrygian annoy, 

Not we who poured the Greek on feeble Troy : 100 

What was the cause, which stirred the world to arms, 

Europe 'gainst Asia banding ? — Spartan charms. 

Was mine the hand or auspices which led 

Adulterous Paris to the Spartan bed ? 

Did I that lust inspire ? then had'st thou feared 105 

These consequents ; then had we never heard 

This most unjust reproach, this plaint absurd." 

So Juno ; and the Gods celestial moved, 
Murmured as they approved or disapproved. 
As when the first blast stirs the forest trees, 110 

The sigh of omen vibrates to the seas, 
And warns the sailor of the coming breeze. 



BookX. THE iENEIS. 279 

Then spoke the Sire immortal, Lord of all ; 
Silence the while ruled the etherial hall, 
Lulled was the ether and the earth at rest, 115 

Stilled were the zephyrs, calmed the ocean's breast. 

" Now hear my words, and mark the words ye hear: 
Since fate forbids that mutual treaties e'er 
The Trojans and Ausonians may blend, 
So neither have your discords any end. 120 

Be Fortune umpire then to-day: to whom 
She victory grants, to whom she utters doom, 
So let it be. If the besiegers fall, 
Or Troy succumb, pent in a hostile wall, 
By omens misinterpreted, misled, — 125 

Jove will impartial be. The doom is said, 
The Fates they rule." 

Then by his Brother's flood, 
Styx, of the pitchy wave and whirlpool rude, 
He bowed his head and ratified his word ; 
He bowed, Olympus trembling as it heard. 130 

Then Jove through ranks of Gods — o'er the star- 
studded floor, 
Quitted the golden throne and sought the threshold 
door. 

Meantime with sword and fire the foeman bold 
Assailed the town : pent up within their hold, 
The .ZEneache despaired of force or flight ; 135 

Yet did they man the ramparts for the fight, 
But thin the rank and broken was the line. 
Asius Ambracides, Thyinoetes, join 



280 THE iENEIS. Book X. 

With twain Assarici, old Tybris and 

Castor the brave, to form the foremost band. 140 

Claims and Hgemon, Lycian chieftains, came — 

Sons of Sarpedon they : his mighty frame 

Lernissian Acmon, who in battle hurled 

A rock, no trifling fragment of the world — 

Whose brother Mnestheus was, Clytius his sire, 145 

Nor he inferior in his martial fire. 

With darts ascending, stones descending clash, 

And fire-brands, the death-fraught arrows crash. 

With comely brow and undefended head, 
worthy care of Venus ! them, Ascanius led. 150 

So shines the gem set in barbaric gold, 
So shows the ivory amidst its mould 
Of terebynth Orician or box — 
Spread o'er his snowy neck the floating locks, 
Compassed the golden diadem his brow. 155 

There, too, Maeonian Ismarus, didst thou, 
'Midst high-soul'd warriors prove a warrior's claim 
By shafts envenomed, and unerring aim. 
Thy fields the waves Pactolus of enfold, 
And irrigate wdth waters and with gold. 160 

Mnestheus was there, proud of his latest deed, 
Turnus repulsed, and the pressed city freed. 
Capys was there, founder of Capua, he 
Decreed Campania's capital to be. 

Meantime, Evander gained, iEneas sought 165 

By midnight o'er the main, the camp and court 



Book X. THE JENEIS. 281 

Of the Etruscan king : there he avowed 
His purpose, name, and race ; his need allowed, 
Mezentius owned and Turnus for his foes ; 
But 'gainst their arrogance presumptuous, shows 170 
The uncertain tenure of all human might, 
Adding entreaty to his plea of right. 
King Tarchon heard and tarried not, but signed 
The strict alliance, and his troops combined. 
Then with accordant fates, by Heaven's commands, 175 
The sons of Lydia, leagued with foreign bands, 
By foreign chief w 7 ere led on Latin lands. 
The ship iEneian led the van — its beak 
The Phrygian lions joined on Ida's peak ; 
Ida, still cherished, rising in relief, 180 

Sculptured behind : there sate the mighty chief, 
And in his breast revolved the eventful tide 
Of mortal things — and Pallas by his side 
Questioning still, of constellations bright, 
The silent stars, those beacons of the night, 185 

And perils which by seas and lands affright. 

Open the founts of Helicon and deign, 
Ye maiden Goddesses, to prompt the strain ; 
What navies, launched upon the deep, declare, 
And what the bands and who their leaders were. 190 

Prince Massicus, a thousand warriors led, 
Tigris,* in brass, bedecked the galley's head ; 

* The river Tigris. 



282 THE ^NEIS. Book X. 

From Clusium's walls and Cosa's towers they go, 
Bearing light quivers and the deadly bow. 
With Abas, and his armour-bearing troop ; 195 

A gold Apollo gleaming on his poop. 

Six hundred fruitful Populonia gave, 
Youths trained to war ; and II va of the wave 
Three hundred more supplied — island renowned 
For steel, in unexhausted mines profound. 200 

The third and next Asylas was, the seer, 
Of Heaven and human fate interpreter ; 
From quivering entrails, from the stars of heaven, 
The chant of birds, and from the fiery levin ; 
Bristled his thousand spears in dense array 205 

From Pisa, Tuscan town, whose ancestry 
From the Alpheian Pisa erst had sprung. 

And Astur followed, Astur fair and young, 
Of party-coloured arms and war-horse proud. 
Three hundred youths around his banner crowd ; 210 
Unanimous in that, supplied although 
From Caere and the plains of Minio — 
From Pyrgos and its earliest towers — and where 
Gravisca spreads contaminated air. 

And thou, Ligurian Cinyras, mayst claim 215 

A foremost place for thine ennobled name ; 
Another foremost place thy name assumes 
Cupavo — of the crest of cygnet plumes. 
Unsparing love ! hostile to thee, the cause — 
And ensign of paternal woe, it was. 220 



Book X. THE ^NEIS. 283 

For Cygnus mourned for Phaeton, 'tis sung, 

The amber- weeping sister boughs among, 

Invoking still the muse, his only stay, 

Till woe and age fulfilled their ministry, [225 

When, changed and garbed in snowy plumes, he rose, 

And 'midst the stars, chanted his mortal woes. 

Sailed with his son, his small but native bands 

Of brother warriors : the husre Centaur stands 

High on his prow, and heaves in act to throw 

A rugged rock, which threats the deeps below. 230 

There Ocnus from the shores paternal trod, 
Of Manto sprung and Tuscan river-god. 
From his prophetic mother, Manto fair ! 
Those walls he built, and name he planted there. 
Mantua ! renowned for old nobility, 235 

Yet not of pure and unmixed blood are they ; 
Tribes three, of fourfold races, mixed had been, 
Blood Tuscan ruled, and Mantua was the queen. 

Five hundred subjects of Mezentius sailed 
(Hate towards his rule and enmity prevailed), 240 

Whom Mincius, crowned with nodding verdure, bore 
In native pine, from sire Benacos' shore. 
Auletes led them on : a hundred oars 
Foaming the deep whereon his ensign soars, 
Shadowing the main — Triton the mighty, and 245 

The conch cerulean, grasped within his hand. 
Aloft he rears his rough and shaggy brow, 
But sinks his piscine folds the waves below, 
And the main murmured round the shadowing prow. 



284 THE -33NEIS. Book X. 

Thrice ten the ships, thrice ten the leaders were, 250 
Allied to Troy, who sailed confederate there. 

Now day departed, alma Phoebe drove 
Her course nocturnal through the orb above ; 
iEneas slept not : mortal cares prevailed, 
He held the rudder watchful as he sailed, 255 

When unto him, as o'er the deep he swept, 
A choir of nymphs around him played and leapt ; 
Those nymphs were his own ships, which his had been, 
Changed by Cybele unto nymphs marine. 
In choir they floated ; many as of yore, 260 

Their glittering prows had ranked upon the shore, 
They sported now their well-known chief around : 
Cymodocea, for sweet speech renowned, 
Kose where the hero sate — an arm of snow 
She cast the vessel's bank above, below 265 

The other played amidst the subject main : 
iEneas, marvelling, listened to her strain. 
" Hail ! watchman of the night, iEneas hail ! 
Hail, goddess-born — watch and spread every sail. 
We, Pines Idaean, from its sacred wood 270 

Torn for thy fleet, now nymphs are of the flood ; 
For when the base Kutulians, with brands 
Forsworn assailed, we burst our mooring bands, 
Unwillingly, and since have sought thee thus ; 
These forms our mother granted unto us 275 

To pass the term of immortality 
As Goddesses eternal of the sea. 



M 



Book X. THE ^NEIS. 285 

But to Ascanius : he demands thy care, 

Pent within moat and wall, beleaguered there, 

Whilst march, as preconcerted, to those lands 280 

Horsemen Arcadian and Etruscan bands. 

Turnus has sworn he will, if that he may 

Oppose their junction, bar and ban their way : 

Therefore arise, Aurora's beams appear, 

Arouse your comrades, arm for battle near; 285 

Assume thy shield Vulcanian, orbed with gold, 

For this succeeding dawning must behold — 

Deem not my words unauthorised — the coast 

Burdened with dead of the Kutulian host." 

She spoke, and by her hand and will divine 290 

Propelled the vessel, which shot through the brine 
Fast as the bolt, or shaft winged from the yew, 
As speeding on the fleet she sank from view. 

Albeit of consciousness awhile bereaved, 
Tros Anchisiades was heart relieved ; 295 

His soul the omen owned, as to the skies 
In utterance of brief prayer he raised his eyes. 
" thou, great Mother of the Gods above, 
Whose heart doth Dindyma and Ida love, 
And lions yoked, and turret-girded walls, 300 

Thine augury it is, thy mandate calls 
Thy Phrygian sons to field ; Goddess, assist them there." 

Night fled the while that he pronounced the prayer, 
Then marshalled he his men and bade prepare, [305 
And donned their arms and nerved their minds to dare. 



286 THE JENEIS. Book X. 

And now the Trojan camp appeared in view ; 

High on the poop the Trojan stood and threw 

Aloft his beaming shield : they recognize, 

And shouts of Trojan welcome rend the skies. 

Hope nerves their arms anew, and the darts sped — 310 

As when Strymonian cranes, by winter led, 

Flee from the threatened gale with clamour loud, 

And blacken, as they fly, the gathered cloud. 

But Turnus and the chiefs Ausonian, who 
Marvelled in ignorance, till prows anew — 315 

For still the teeming ocean furnished more — 
Wore into sight and moored upon the shore. 
Shot through the falling crest the apex bright, 
Blazed from the golden orb its dazzling light — 
Like to the blood-red rays the comet throws 320 

Through dewy night pregnant with mortal woes ; 
Like to the deadlier rays which Sirius sheds, 
With thirst and fever fraught to mortal heads, 
And threatening Heaven with inauspicious fire : 
But Turnus dauntless stood, with martial ire 325 

To guard the shore, and chase them back to sea, 
Bousing their souls, and boasting fearlessly — 
" Comrades, behold ! our hopes are gratified : 
Behold the foe, and battle by his side. 
Now each invoke hearth, wife, or lady-love, 330 

And ancestry, and worthy of them prove ; 
Assail them now, or ere they gain the shore, 
And ours the vantage ground, their steps unsure, 



Book X. THE .flSNEIS. 287 

And fortune aids the bold." He said, and chose 

The bands the lines to keep, and to oppose 335 

The landing foe. 

Meantime the Trojan band 
Put forth the planks and joined the poops to land ; 
Some neared the bank where the wave eddying slept, 
Whence, watching opportunity, they leapt ; 
Some glided down an oar ; but Tarchon eyed 340 

Where the smooth billow broke in noiseless tide, 
And, " Now brave friends," he said, " lay to your oars ; 
We need but once to land on yonder shores, 
Give way — and drive them high and dry to land, 
There let them rot or split upon the sand." 345 

So Tarchon spoke : his warriors obeyed, 
Keckless they strained, and way impetuous made 
Until the beaks, and every keel in sand 
Unharmed lay bedded on the Latin strand ; 
Save thine, Tarchon — on the treacherous shore 350 
Cast on a shelf infirm, thine tottered o'er 
This way and that, until it reft in twain 
And tumbled out its warriors in the main, 
Who gain the land though broken oars impede, 
Fragments encumbering as the waves recede. 355 

And Turnus who delayed not, he withstood 
With all his force and Latin hardihood ; 
Then clanged the trumpets and the fight began. 

Omen of victory ! in battle's van 
Great Theron fell, hugest of mortal men ; 360 

He sought iEneas, and he perished then : 



288 THE ^ENEIS. Book X. 

His golden armour did not save its lord, 

Nor brazen shield withstand th' JEneian sword. 

Then Lycas fell ; ripped from his mother's womb, 

To Phoebus thence devoted, but to whom 365- 

Then was denied immunity from steel. 

Then Cisseus fell, and mighty Gyasfell, 

Whose iron maces now no more prevailed ; 

No more their arms Herculean availed, 

Or lineage, Melampus from their birth, 370 

Alcides' comrade whilst he toiled on earth. 

Then Pharos fell, there ended his loud boast, 

Transfixed his tongue which aye offended most. 

Then, guilty Cydon, hadst thou fallen beneath 

The spear iEneian in a warrior's death, 375 

But fate denied such glory to thy shame, 

Nor granted crime like thine to live in fame. 

A cohort linked of brethren barred the way, 

Thy seven sons, Phorcus ; banded, they [380 

Launched forth their spears ; the seven failed to wound ; 

Some from the helm and golden orb rebound, 

Some Yenus turned, which harmless fell to ground. 

iEneas, to Achates at his side 
Then turning, said, " Give me my weapons tried, 
They fail not 'gainst Eutulians, which have stood 385 
In Grecian mail and drank of Grecian blood." 
He took and grasped the weighty spear ; it flew, 
And passed Mseone's shield and armour through — 
Alcanor rushed his brother to sustain ; 
Alcanor next was numbered with the slain. 300 



Book X. THE ^NEIS. 289 

And Nurnitor, who from the corpse withdrew 
The spear iEneian, and returning threw ; 
Un winged by fate it flew — but all awry, 
In course oblique it grazed Achates' thigh. 

Then Clausus of the Cures, drawing near 395 

In youthful confidence, dismissed his spear ; 
Dryops it slew, the steel and quivering wood 
Transfixed the throat, with breath and speech endued, 
Forward he falls, and falling vomits blood. 
Three Thracians also, sons of Boreas they, 400 

Three sons of Idas, born in Ismara's bay, 
He smote and slew. 

Halesus, too, fought there 
With men Auruncan ; and the Neptunian heir, 
Messapus, with his steeds : the battle grows — 
Ausonia the prize ; and these succumb and those. 405 
E'en thus, e'en thus, discordant winds engage, 
Equal in courage, strength, and headlong rage ; 
None conquer, nought is won ; nor sea nor sky, 
Though turmoiled in their strife for victory. 
And even so are Troy and Latium met, 410 

Man's arm to arm opposed, man's foot 'gainst foot is set. 

But where the torrent of autumnal rain 
Had lodged its mountain ravage on the plain, 
The Arcadians, all unused on foot to fight, 
Gave way before the Latins : to alight 415 

Forced were they from the nature of the ground, 
And vantage to forego. With grief profound 
This Pallas saw — his prayers and threats resound, 

u 



290 THE ^NEIS. Book X. 

" Flee not, my comrades — call to mind your fame, 

Your deeds of war, your king Evander's name, 420 

Your victories, your hopes, your country's praise ; 

Nor trust retreat, to shun your enemies, 

Kather, far rather, with the sword in hand, 

To cleave their ranks ! turn then at my command, 

Pallas your leader, for your nation's fame 425 

No God opposes — but eternal shame 

Before a mortal enemy to flee, 

To whom in force, equal, at least, are we. 

Flee ! why the main is in the rear, no more — 

Ocean behind, the Trojan camp's before." 430 

He said, and rushed 'midst thickest of the men : 
With hostile fates did Lagus meet him then. 
Lagus, who heaved a rock in act to throw, 
When the swift spear anticipates the blow ; 
Fixed in the spinal bone it quivering sped, 435 

And hardly rendered back its iron head. 
Whilst he retrieved his spear did Hisbo deem 
Unarmed to smite him : as in heedless dream, 
Preoccupied by his companion's death 
And blind revenge, his breast became the sheath 440 
Of the Arcadian sword. Then Sthenolus, 
And of the Khoetan race, Anchemolus, 
The foul defiler of his sire's bed, 
And, brethren twins, Liris and Thymber bled : 
So wondrous like were they, they oft beguiled 445 

The eyes maternal, which in erring smiled ; 



Book X. THE -ENEIS. 291 

No more that likeness holds ; the Evandrian brand 
Loppecl Thymber's head and Liris' right hand, 
Which, severed, grasped and quivered on the sand. 

Now fears to honest indignation yield, 450 

And the Arcadians re-assert the field. 
Rhoeteus fell next ; he drove his biga from 
The battle-field, but not from fated doom. 
From Teuthres and from Tyres as he fled 
A lance attained him and him struck down dead — 455 
A lance for Ilus meant — to earth he reels, 
And wounds Kutulian dust with dying heels. 

As when, with thought premeditate, the swain 
In summer solstice fires the stubble plain ; 
Views the Yulcanian element devour 460 

The brake and wood in unresisted power, 
And gladly views the deed of his own hands — 
So Pallas viewed the progress of his bands, 
And joyed, considering the deed his own. 
And lo Halesus then came thundering down 465 

In armour strong, stronger in human might : 
Ladou, he first, and Pheres slew in fight ; 
Demodocus he slew, and lopped the hand 
Eaised 'gainst him by Strymonius, with brand, 
And Thoas, with a stone stretched on the land. 470 

Studied in future fates, his sire withheld, 
Whilst that he lived, Halesus from the field : 
Now fates allured him to th' Evandrian spear. 
Approaching him, Pallas addressed his prayer : 

' ' u 2 



292 THE iENEIS. Book X. 

" Grant, Father Tybris, grant my missile steel 475 

Fortune and way Halesus proud to quell, 

Then shall thy oak his arms and armour bear." 

The Godhead heard, and the Arcadian spear 

Smote his side undefended, as he o'er 

Imaon cast his shield, comate of war. 480 

Lausus, young gallant warrior, lest the slain, 
And lest discomfiture unchecked should reign, 
Headed the host. Abas opposed he slew, 
Abas the prop of Trojan war : anew 
The battle raged, and on the gory plain 485 

Etruscans and Arcadians, and — preserved in vain 
From Trojan ashes — men of Teucer lay. 
Leaders and courage equal, thither they 
Concentring rush, and lack the space to strike. 
Here Lausus and there Pallas : how alike 490 

In youth, in excellence, in mortal doom : 
Each fated never to review his home, 
Their homes paternal : one thing to each denied, 
To meet the other : for fate had decreed — 
And the Olympic Arbiter accords, 495 

An end ennobled by the mightiest swords. 

His sister nymph warned Turnus then afar, 
He cleft the space betwixt with rushing car, 
" Comrades, withhold ! " he cried : " the Fates bestow 
Pallas to me — to me his death is due : 500 

Would that his sire were here, that death to view. 



Book X. THE ^ENEIS. 293 

With marvel Pallas marked his comrades yield, 
And the hosts part from the commanded field. 
He turned to meet the chief and to reply, 
" Either thy spoil enriched by victory 505 

Or death — such is my noble sire's award : 
Forbear to threat." 

He sought the middle sward, 
But cold the blood stood in Arcadian veins. 
Then Turnus leapt to earth and cast the reins : 
And as the lion, viewing from afar 510 

The lordly bull premeditating war, 
Kushes to slay — so Turnus rushes near : 
Against him Pallas poised the missile spear, 
Of strength unequal conscious, yet elate, 
Trusting in favouring Fortune and in Fate, 515 

And prayed to Heaven thus : " Alcides ! hear, 
Friend of my father and his guest, my prayer ; 
Alcides, nerve my arm ; let Turnus feel, 
And own expiring, my victorious steel ! " 

Alcides heard the prayer, he heaved the sigh, 520 
And the vain tear-drop trickled from his eye. 
Whom Heaven's Sire bespoke with soothing words ; 
" All have their hour allotted : Fate accords 
Time brief and irreparable to all ; 
Life to oblivion ; fame shall never fall — 525 

That virtue's prize. 

How many sons of Heaven and mine own 
Fell before Troy : Sarpedon, my own son ! 
Fate marks the goal — in turn must Turnus yield." 
The immortal said, and turned him from the field. 530 



294 THE ^NEIS. Book X. 

Then Pallas launched his spear and drew his sword ; 
The spear the Daunian armour smote and scored, 
And pierced the shield and rent the armour where 
Glittered the upper shoulder-plate in air, 
And grazed the flesh. Turnus then poised to throw, 535 
And taunting, said, " Now let me mend the blow, 
If mine perchance can pierce a shield" — then cast, 
Through plates of iron, brass, and hides it past, 
The breastplate's stay, and pierced the breast at last. 

The falling warrior grappled with the dart, 540 

Which w T armed and drank the life-blood from the heart, 
In vain, the blood and soul together fled, 
Falling his limbs and ringing armour spread, 
As, on unfriendly soil, he sunk his dying head. 

Then Turnus standing o'er — " Arcadians, hear, 545 
Mark ! and my words to king Evander bear ; 
Thus Pallas to his sire do I restore 
Honours sepulchral, funeral ritual for, 
And guerdon meet for the iEneian friend." 
Then pressed his foot the corpse upon, to rend 550 

Thereoff the spoil ; the mighty belt which told 
That tale of crime, sculptured in massy gold, 
How in one night, one bridal night, was slain 
The bridegroom band and nuptial rites profane ; 
Fresh from the hand of good Eurytion 555 

By Pallas worn, and now by Turnus won. 

How blind, mortal man, how purblind thou ; 
Elate to-day, to-morrow steeped in woe. 
Turnus ! the hour draws on, when thou shall hate 
Thy trophy won ; and penitent, too late. 560 



Book X. THE iENEIS. 295 

With groans and tears, upraised upon his shield, 
His comrades bore the body from the field. 
O grief, but glory ! let remembrance tell, 
Soothing paternal grief, that when you fell 
One day — your first of battle — gave a claim 565 

To fame immortal and a warrior's name. 

No flying rumour, but report most sure 
Told great iEneas that discomfiture 
And death fell on his bands : then carved his sword 
A bloody passage through the opposing horde. 570 

Turnus he sought, Turnus with slaughter red ; 
Whilst thought and memory together sped, 
Perturbing and usurping all his mind : 
Pallas, Evander, the reception kind, 
Aid, hospitality, hand-plighted friends. 575 

Four sons of Sulmo then alive he sends, 
Of Ufens four, to immolate, and flood 
The pyre with captive and with victim blood. 
At Magus next casting his fleeing spear, 
Who stooping let it waste its force in air, 580 

And grasping at his knees, embracing prayed, 
" 0, by thy son, and by thy father's shade, 
Spare me, both son and sire : heaps of gold, 
Talents of silver and of gold untold, 
Unwrought and wrought ; for not upon one life 585 

Doth victory hang, or mine affect this strife." 

" Gold, silver, talents," the dread chief replied, 
Thy son may reap : for Turnus has denied 



296 THE ^NEIS. Book X. 

Kansoms and laws of war in Pallas slain ; 

So says my sire, lulus says again, 590 

So they decree" — then spurned him to the plain. 

iEmonides, Phoebus' and Trivia's priest, 
Shining in armour and resplendent vest, 
The fillet of his order on his brow, 
iEneas met, and meeting, overthrew 595 

And immolated him, a mighty ghost below. 
Sergestes gathered up the arms to be 
A trophy, king Gradivus ! unto thee. 

Now Cseculus, Yulcanian progeny, 
And Umbro from the Marsian mountains, they 600 

Eenewed the fight : over against them raved 
Dardanides : him the seer Anxur braved 
To lose his left arm with a cloven shield : 
Anxur the seer, whose own eye oft revealed, 
Whose own verse oft foretold, things great and high, 605 
On earth grey hairs and age and immortality. 

And Tarquitus, nymph-born — by Dryope 
Unto the forest Faunus — foremost he 
Then dared the sword iEneian, but the shield 
His spear unequal to its task repelled. 610 

Beat down to earth, the victor stopped his prayer : 
" Thou dread and fearful warrior, lie there ; 
Thy mother nymph for thee may not uprear 
A tumulus or build a sepulchre ; 

But birds on land or fishes in the vast 615 

Shall on thy huge and bleeding frame repast ! " 



Book X. THE ^NEIS. 297 

Antaeus then, and Lycas next he slew, 

Numa the strong, golden-haired Camers too : 

He Volsces' heir — by waters Amyclane, 

Those sleepy waves, his rich Ausonian reign. 620 

With hundred arms and hundred hands so strove 
Titan iEgseon 'gainst Olympic Jove; 
Flame from the heart through fifty jaws expelled, 
And fifty swords as many shields repelled : 
So seemed iEneas multiplied, and gore 625 

Flowed from his sworcl. 

Afar he marked the four 
Coursers Nyphseus drove in battle car : 
Thither he rushed ; the steeds in fear, afar 
Swerved, started, cast their lord upon the plain, 
And scudded o'er the shore with trailing rein. 630 

Next in a biga drawn by snow-white steeds 
Came Lucagus, his brother Liger leads, 
Encountering iEneas : Liger to whom : 
" Thy life shall close this war ; behold thy doom : 
No Diomedan steeds, no Phrygian plain, 635 

No Achilleian car, and flight is vain." 
So vaunting Liger. The Trojan chief replied 
With the huge spear ; and Lucagus who vied 
To smite the steeds, and fight left foot before, 
The steel attainted — through the shield it bore, 640 

Pierced the left groin and sunk him to the dust. 
" Is such the strength in which ye put such trust ? " 
iEneas answering, said with bitter smile ; 
" Thee doth no flight betray or heavenly guile, 



298 THE iENEIS. Book X. 

Thyself desertest thy biga" — as he spoke 645 

Backward he bore the steeds upon the yoke, 

And Liger rolled to earth : fallen he sued : 

" mighty Trojan chief, with strength endued, 

By thee, and by thy parents, forgive : 

Grant me my life, in pity let me live ! " 650 

" No, vaunting craven, die ! " the chief replied ; 

" Nor brother desert brother, side by side." 

So like the tempest or the torrent's force, 

The Dardan chief destroyed without remorse. 

Ascanius reappeared, too, on the plain 655 

With Trojan bands, besieged so long in vain. 

Now Jupiter unprompted marked the strife : 
" sister mine and well-beloved wife," 
He turned and said, " thy thoughts are ever true : 
Venus the Trojan aids, 'tis even so ; 660 

Such is not mortal might, or man in war 
And peril, fierce and dauntless as they are." 

To whom Saturnia bending said, " If thou, 
Mine honour'd lord, try my obedience now, 
I keep thy mandates and thy frowns I fear. 665 

Yet were I, as I once was, to thee dear, 
From power omnipotent I should not crave 
The boon denied, my votary to save, 
And Turnus unto Daunus to restore : 
No, let him perish, let his righteous gore 670 

Be libated to Troy. What though his race, 
Fourth from Pilumnus, might accord him grace ; 



Book X. THE ^ENEIS. 299 

What though with constant gifts and piety- 
He piles thy thresholds ? — even let him die." 

To which the eternal Xing of Heaven replied, 675 
" Is such the boon that I have still denied, 
To spare a mortal for another hour : 
Hence then to earth and use immortal power, 
Snatch him from present fate ; but if, my wife, 
You hope to change the fortunes of this strife, 680 

If these thy words conceal some specious prayer, 
You harbour vainest hopes, — for future care." 

Saturnia wept : " What if," she made reply, 
" Thy heart accords the boon thy words deny, 
And life to Turnus ? but I fear, I fear, 685 

'Tis death awaits him, and such death is near. 
O that I am of groundless fears the prey, 
Or thou, who canst, would'st cancel this decree." 

She said, and girded in a wintry cloud 
She shot from heaven descending : then the crowd 690 
Of Trojan and Laurentian bands she sought. 
A Phantom' formed of mist she thither brought 
To personate iEneas : on its brow 
The likeness of the crested helm, below 
The golden shield — .ZEneas like it spoke, 695 

iEneas like its airy weapon shook. 
So do we deem the shade in Hades roams, 
And so from thence the dream nocturnal comes. 

The hosts between, stalking in martial pride, 
The Phantom challenged Turnus, and defied, 700 



300 THE .ENEIS. Book X, 

But when young Turnus with his sounding spear 

Answered the challenge, then it sought the rear. 

Turnus deceived, and to vain hopes betrayed : 

" iEneas flees, and yields the bride," he said ; 

" iEneas flees, and yields his destined reign ; 705 

Yet stay and from my hand take it again." 

So Turnus spoke, nor knew he followed air. 

It chanced a galley moored to land was there, 

With ladder and with landing bridge on shore 

Joined to the cliff, which king Osinius bore 710 

From Clusian Cosa ; thither the Phantom sped, 

And with feigned fear within its cabins hid : 

Him Turnus followed, but his foot on board, 

When burst the rope — Saturnia burst the cord — 

And from iEneas and the gory plain 715 

The galley bounded o'er the sounding main. 

Then rose the Phantom from his lurking lair, 

And soaring proudly disappeared in air. 

So Turnus drove alone across the sea, 
Fixing his thought, recalling memory. 720 

At length, with hands and voice upraised on high, 
" Father Omnipotent ! " he said, " am I, 
Am I thus punished ? whither am I sent ? 
Inflicted why with such a chastisement ? 
Borne whither? taken whence? O flight! O flight! 725 
How shall I ever meet my warriors' sight, 
Or in the ranks of war how reappear, 
Their scorn and their opprobrium to bear ? 



Book X. THE -ENEIS. 301 

deadly spite ! my scattered bands I see, ' 

1 hear their dying groaus, betrayed by me, 730 
By me betrayed to death. Where shall I find 

On earth a hiding-place — hear me, thou wind, 
sink me now, and you I will adore ; 
Cast me the Syrtes on, on rocks ashore, 
Where the Eutulians may forget my shame 735 

And conscious fame blot my dishonoured name." 
So prayed the warrior, but his wounded mind 
Harboured despair ; despairing, sought to find 
Belief from aught around, the sword, or wave, 
With hope forlorn of flight or of a grave. 740 

But mightiest Juno present still repressed 
Each thought as it arose within his breast, 
Thoughts of despair : until he Ardea neared, 
Until her venerable walls appeared. 

Now Jove inspired Mezentius to redeem 745 

The field from Troy exultant : against him 
Seen in the battle van the Tyrrhenes ran, 
By hate impelled, a host against a man. 
Alone did he sustain their battle shock, 
And as, when foaming waves invade the rock, 750 

Unmoved it stands, and scatters from its side 
The spray to heaven, so he. 

Then Hebrus died 
He son of Dolichaon, and with whom 
Palmus and Latigus find equal doom ; 
A stone smote Latigus and crushed his brain, 755 

And Palmus fleeing, hamstrung pressed the plain, 



302 THE iENEIS, Book X. 

Fair was his armour, though unwarlike he, 

And seized for Lausus, his thenceforth to be. 

Then Phrygian Evas fell, and Mimas, son 

Of Amycus — companion he was one, 760 

Of Dardan Paris — born of Theano bright 

In the same hour and on the self-same night 

That the queen Cisseis produced her birth, 

Paris the firebrand !— And yet on native earth 

Doth Paris sleep : Mimas, he wots not where. 765 

So like a boar at bay, Mezentius there — 

A stalwart boar, such as Mount Viso breeds, 

Or the Laurentian wilderness of reeds — 

Caught in the hunter's toils, chafing in wrath, 

And none so daring as to cross its path, 770 

Who stand aloof and shout and ply their darts ; 

But vain the rage and terror he imparts, 

Vainly he champs his tusks and rends the spear ; 

So fought Mezentius — and the foe in fear, 

None dariug then to meet him hand to hand 775 

Shouted, and cast their darts, from distant stand. 

Acron of Corythum, of Grecian race — 
He left those bounds antique, his dwelling-place, 
His spousals unconsummated he left, 
And through the fight in bridal favours swept, 780 

Purple and scarlet, caught Mezentius' eye ; 
And as the famished lion prowling nigh 
The guarded fold, sees haply wandering there 
Some straying goat or antler-beaming deer, 



Book X. THE ^NEIS. 303 

He roars with gladness, as with bristled mane 785 

He springs and fixes on and drains the slain, 
Revelling his muzzle in the gore ; e'en so 
Mezentius headlong dashed amidst the foe ; 
So Acron fell, and falling spurned the ground, 
Tearing the sward — gore welling from the wound. 790 

Orodes next, who unawares had laid . 
His back unguarded to the conqueror's blade, 
Disdaining so to smite, but face to face 
(Stronger in battle — fleeter in the chase) 
He met confronting — then trampling with his heel 795 
His fallen foe, and resting on his steel, 
" Comrades ! " he shouted, " see, Orodes low 
A hostile champion, and redoubted foe." 
Shouting applause his comrades paeans sung, 
Whilst he expiring said with faltering tongue : 800 

" Exulting conqueror, your doom I see, 
And equal fate demands both you and me — 
We meet again, in regions of the dead." 
With mingled scorn and ire, Mezentius said, 
" Die thou — and I, what time th' Olympic Sire 805 

And King of Men decrees : so I desire.'' 
Silence and iron sleep then closed his sight 
In the dim shades of everlasting night. 

Then unto Caeclicus Alcathous fell, 
Hydaspes to Sacrator's swooping steel, 810 

Eapo, Parthenius and Orsas slays ; 
Messapus, Clonius and Ericetes. 



304 THE ^NEIS. Book X. 

The young and noble Valerus o'erthrew 

Agis the Lycian ; and Salius slew 

Anthronius, falling to Nealces, who 815 

Knew well to cast the dart and twang the yew. 

Through war and slaughter, death and misery rife, 

With fortune indiscriminate and strife, 

Nor conquered yet nor conquerors, alike 

Each nerves to battle and each stands to strike, 820 

The Gods above wept o'er the scene of woe, 
And grieved for mortal misery below, 
Venus except, and the Saturnian queen. 
And pale Tisiphone, who foes between 
In slaughter revels, wheresoe'er the scene. 825 

Lo ! where Mezentius striding o'er the plain 
Balanced the spear : so rises o'er the main 
Orion huge — so onward holds his way, 
His shoulders tow'ring high, his foot in spray. 
Or thence descending with his staff on high 830 

Treads earth, and hides his forehead in the sky. 
Such and so mighty strode Mezentius ; and 
iEneas saw, and sought him hand to hand. 

Undaunted stood Mezentius, and eyed 
His foe magnanimous with warlike pride, 835 

As he approached he said — " My God, attend 
Thou my firm steel ! and thou right hand befriend ! 
Lausus ! the battle spoils I vow to thee 
iEneian trophies — robber of the sea ! " 
He said, and rising cast the sounding spear, 840 

It smote the shield iEneian just to sear — 



Book X. THE ^ENEIS. 305 

Thence glancing pierced Anthores : be had come 

From Argos, friend of Hercules whilom ; 

Argos he left to join Evander's band, 

And shared his fortunes on Italian land ; 845 

Now smitten by an alien wound, his eyes 

He casts to heaven, and as his spirit flies 

Thinks upon Argos and her meads, and dies. 

His sounding spear pious iEneas cast, 
Through the big orb and brazen plates it past, 850 

Through knotted network and the .tripled hide, 
And holding onward fixed within the side, 
Not fatal yet ; but forth iEneas stood 
With glittering blade, elate at sight of blood. 

Troubled in soul with filial love and fears, 855 

Lausus beheld it through his gushing tears. 
Illustrious boy — a lasting fame is won 
By that great deed thy death depended on : 
Long shall posterity repeat through me, 
Thy meed of praise and tale of piety. 860 

Wounded, borne back, and crippled by the spear, 
Mezentius faltered — the boy rushed in there, 
Opposed his buckler to the blow, and brought 
The rescue and retreat, the father sought ; 
Followed his shouting comrades, to behold 865 

The buckler of the boy shield warrior bold, 
And fell their missile storm : iEneas fain 
To rear his shield to ward the pelting rain : 



306 THE .ENEIS. Book X. 

As when some cloud suffused with hail pours down, 

The husbandmen, and ploughmen seek, the town, 870 

The traveller rests, nor cares the storm to brave, 

Safe in the shelter of some bank or cave 

Whilst lasts the storm ; but when Sol beams again 

They issue forth, and scatter o'er the plain ; 

So paused iEneas ! on his shield he bore 875 

The rattling tempest and the hail of war ; 

So patiently the threats of Lausus bears — 

" Desist, brave youth and bold, beyond thy years ; 

Desist from fight unequal, ere too late, 

Nor let such piety lure on to fate." 880 

He threat'ning boasts, till indignation rose ; 

Fates, the last threads of Lausus' life dispose, 

And fell the swooping sword, and in its fall 

Drove to the hilt, through buckler, armour, all, 

Defence unequal— 885 

And through the tunic which a mother's pride 

With gold had broidered ; through the snowy side ; 

Out gushed the blood — until- life slowly spent, 

Loth to depart so sweet a tenement, 

Ebbed into air for Hades. 890 

He, Ancbisiades, 
Gazed on the dust, gazed on the pallid brow, . 
And groaning from his heart, he bended low 
And held the listless hand ; remembrance roved 
To time gone by and to the sire he loved : 895 

And said, " hapless youth, could I bequeath 
Aught worthy thee, and this most hapless death ; 



Book X. THE iENEIS. 307 

All that I. can, though insufficient, have — 

Armour untouched, dust to an honoured grave, 

And, for some solace, tell upon the tomb 900 

The great iEneas dealt the stroke of doom." 

Then beckoning the comrades of the dead, 

They raised the corpse, they raised the bleeding head 

Entwined with locks of youth from off its gory bed. 

The sire, meantime, he sat by Tiber's flood, 905 

Eeposed his frame and purged the wound of blood ; 
His helm and sword hung on the trees around, 
His shield and heavy armour strewed the ground ; 
Faint and in pain he propped his weary head, 
And his kempt beard adown his bosom spread. 910 

His chosen guard stood round : his mind intent 
On Lausus, on his son ; and oft he sent 
Reiterated warnings to the field — 
But e'er they reached, the corpse upon its shield 
Was back returning, with its wound profound. 915 

His ear prophetic caught -the mournful sound 
Or ere he saw — dust on his head he cast, 
Dust on his grisly beard : his hands at last 
He raised to Heaven and sunk the corpse upon. 
" And is my love of life so strong, my son, 920 

That to preserve it I could forfeit you, 
Only-begotten, to our foe ? And do — 
Do I' survive, my life for thine, my son ? 
Ay, now I feel the curse to be alone, 
Exile and solitude exact their own. 925 

I, having soiled thy name, thrust from the throne, 

x 2 



SOS THE ^ENEIS. Book X. 

My father's sceptre, for my wickedness, 

Now justly am I chastened, and confess 

This penalty retributive for crime : 

Yet still I live, but for a little time, 930 

This world I quit." He said, and rose with pain 

Slowly, and forth the deep wound welled again. 

Yet dauntless, bade he bring his battle steed ; 

He was his pride and trusty aid in deed, 

Had shared his wars and triumphs ; and his head 935 

Declined in sorrow as his master said — 

" Khoebus, 'tis long — if aught that's mortal may 

Long be entitled — we have lived : to-day 

Either the bloodied spoils and victor's head — 

Kevenge for Lausus, vengeance for the dead — 940 

Let us achieve, or if our efforts fail 

We die together, as we lived — for quail, 

My gallant steed ! I trow that wilt thou ne'er ; 

Neither submit a Trojan lord to bear." 

He said, bestriding him : his hands he filled 945 

With javelins ; assumed his mighty shield, 

Glittered his helm and waved the horsehair crest ; 

Deep shame and mourning mingling in his breast ; 

Deep in his inmost heart, grief, madness, strove, 

And conscious worth, rage, and paternal love. 950 

So fraught, he thrice " JEneas ! " shouted round : 

^Eneas heard and hailed the welcome sound. 

" Sire of Heaven and Father Phoebus !. lo, 

Grant this no empty boast, but even so ; " 

He prayed, confronting him. 



Book X. THE ^NEIS. 309 

Mezentius spoke and said, 955 
" Inhuman as thou art ! my son is dead : 
Such power o'er me thou hadst, but that alone : 
I dread not death, and fate respecteth none : 
Forbear to threat : I am come here to die, 
Perchance, but take thou first my legacy." 960 

He said, and hurled a javelin at the foe, 
Another, and another — at each throw, 
His courser wheeling in huge circles round ; 
But the gold shield repelled each destined wound. 
Thus circling to the left Mezentius wheeled, 965 

Casting his weapons, and the Trojan shield 
Showed like a thick impenetrable wood. 
Impatient and perplexed the Trojan stood, 
Nor wrench the darts, nor fight beneath the load. 
He chose his course, and at the forehead broad, 970 

Betwixt the hollow temples of the steed, 
He launched his spear : the wounded quadruped 
Beared, pawed the air, and fell : his vanquished lord 
Prone to iEneas, and the unsheathed sword. 
Who said, " Where is Mezentius now ? where now 975 
His fierce and reckless spirit ? " 

"Bitter foe!" 
Tyrrhenus answered, striving to retain 
His puzzled sight and fix his swimming brain, 
" Thou bitter foe : dost thou threat me with death ? 
Threaten me not, but take my forfeit breath ; 980 

Hither I came to conquer or to die — 
I and my Lausus take no boon of thee : 



310 THE ^NEIS. Book X. 

Yes — one I would accept and only one — 
If that the vanquished may request the boon, 
Let me have sepulture. Full well I know 985 

The hatred which the Tyrrhenes to me owe, 
Defend my dust from hatred : let me share 
Consort in death, my loved son's sepulchre," 
He said, and sought the liberating blow 
Which shed his blood on earth, and sent his shade 
below. 990 



Book XI. THE ^SNEIS. 311 



BOOK XL 

Meantime Aurora rising left the wave. 

What though the rites of sepulture and grave 

And his own comrades slain demanded cares, 

Yet with the light, the Victor poured his prayers ; 

And bared the oak, and built the tumulus, 5 

And raised the trophy of Mezentius, 

God of Battles ! sacred unto thee. 

The bloodied crest there fluttered on the tree, 

The broken weapons and the breastplate scored, 

And through and through in twice six places bored ; 10 

The brazen shield depending on the left, 

And from the neck the sword of eburn heft. 

In exhortations, then, iEneas broke — 
The Trojan leaders crowding as he spoke : — 
" Friends, Chieftains, much is done, so banish fear ; 15 
Lo ! the first fruits of victory are here — 
Haughty Mezentius given to my spear. 
Now forward 'gainst the Latin camp and king, 
Now cast afar distrust and wavering ; 
When, with assenting Gods, our youth upraise 20 

The plucked-up standard, sanction no delays ; 
Furbish your armour, and at once prepare 
With heart and hand aggressive war to rear. 



312 THE ^NEIS. Book XI. 

First give to Earth the dust that lies thereon, 

Sole honour due on this side Acheron ; 25 

Those high illustrious spirits, unto whom 

We owe the bloody victory, inhume ! 

The dust of Pallas to his sire restore, 

Whom night, not lack of worth, hath ta'en before 

His hour untimely." 

He spoke, and weeping went 30 

Where old Acoetes o'er the body bent. 
He, in old days, was armour-bearer to 
Parrhasian Evander ; and anew 
Gave service to the son as hapless as 'twas true. 
Within the servants and the Trojans crowd, 35 

And dames with unbound tresses weep around — 
Like dames of Troy. The portals huge and high, 
^Eneas passed ; echoed the plaintive cry, 
As blows and sobs together rent the sky. 
He, when he marked the pallid countenance 40 

And bosom gored by the Ausonian lance, 
With gushing tears — " thou, Misfortune's child ! 
Was Fortune envious, envious when she smiled — 
Denying thee unto our future reign, 
Or e'en thy seat paternal to regain ? 45 

Not such — not such, the promises I made 
Evander unto, when he lent thine aid ; 
When I departing, he with prescient woe 
Warned us, admonishing how strong the foe ! 
Now he perchance before the altar stands, 50 

With prayers and gifts, with lavish heart and hands ; 
And we upon thy dust are bending low, 



Book XI. THE ^ENEIS. 313 

And nought of thine to G-ods celestial owe ; 

But follow thee with honours vain below. 

Unhappy sire ! thou must receive thy boy — 55 

O triumph and anticipated joy ! 

Fallen, 'tis true, but by a warrior's fate ; 

No shame or blushes on his memory wait. 

But ah ! how much of future promise lost, 

To thine lulus, thine Ausonia's cost." 60 

Now they upraise the corpse inanimate ; 
A thousand men selected on it wait — 
A fitting honour, but a vain relief, 
To share the burthen of paternal grief. 
And others, zealous, weaved a flexile bier : 65 

The oak and arbutus there mingled were 
With boughs o'ercanopiecl. 

As when the maid 
With rosy finger plucks from forth its shade 
The languid hyacinth or violet, 

Its form and beauty it retaining yet, 70 

Though earth hath ceased to feed and nourish it — 
So lay the youth in vestments twain, of gold 
And dazzling purple : Dido in days of old, 
With skill Sidonian, cunning needle dight, 
When the light heart made all employment light ; 75 
One clothed the boy, last honour to the dead, 
And, due to flame, the tresses of his head. 
The spoil he won in fight, Laurentian spoil, 
Was carried by a troop in single file : 



314 THE iENEIS. Book XI. 

Horses and arms miransomed from the foe, 80 

And victims to attend the Shade below. 

With pinioned hands they march towards the pyre, 

Doomed with their blood to feed the funeral fire ; 

Chieftains themselves, Chieftains the trophies raise 

Inscribed with names of vanquished enemies. ; 85 

Acoetes, poor old man, would follow too ; 

His flesh he bruised, and blood his fingers drew 

Until he fell, vanquished by sorrows true. 

They bring the car, foul with Kutulian gore, 
And iEthon follows his dead warrior ; 90 

Unharnessed, uncaparison'd, he goes, 
And the big tears ran trickling down his nose. 
And others bore his spear and helmet bright, — 
Turnus had seized the rest, the victor's right. 
And then the mournful phalanx — Teucrians passed, 95 
Arcadians trailing arms, and Tyrrhenes last. 
Now when this long procession had filed by, 
iEneas stood, and unrepressed the sigh : 
" Fate calls," he said, " to other wars and woes — 
Pallas, all hail ! — hail Pallas and repose ! — 100 

For aye, farewell ! " 

And now returned to camp and guarded ground, 
Heralds of Latium, suppliant, olive-crowned, 
Awaited, asking leave from carnage spread 
To clear the fields and to entomb their dead. 105 

They represent the conquered dead to be 
Objects unfitted for hostility. 
The while remembrance to the fact they draw, 
He was their guest and promised son-in-law. 



Book XI. THE ^ENEIS. 315 

The good iEneas spared to spurn their prayer, 110 

Granted the leave they asked, and answered there : 

" Latins, with fatal fortune, ye despise 

Our proffered aid, and make us enemies : 

Peace for the dead ye ask, the fallen in war ; 

I to the living would concede as far. 115 

I not unbidden am. Fate led me here, 

Nor arms against the Latins did I rear : 

The King rejected me, and puts his trust 

Upon the arm of Turnus ; it were just — 

If he must chase the Trojan from the land — 120 

'Twere just that Turnus met me hand to hand ; 

That would become a warrior, grace his fame, 

And give a right to a presumptuous claim. 

Now go and give your slaughtered sepulture :" 

iEneas said, and ceased. They silent were, 125 

And heard with wonderment and mute surprise ; 

Till Drances old, with fixed antipathies 

To the young Turnus, raised his voice and said : 

" great in fame, greater in martial aid, 

Chieftain of Troy ! can words thy worth impart, 130 

Thy soul of justice and thy fearless heart ? 

We will depart, well pleased with what you say ; 

And if kind Fortune will vouchsafe the way, 

We will with King Latinus urge your claim : 

Let Turnus seek alliance whence he came. 135 

The destined walls and fated citadel 

We — we ourselves, will build ; in faith we will." 

So Drances spoke, and the applausive sound 
Of murmured acquiescence vibrates round. 



316 THE JBNEIS. Book XL 

For days twice six the armistice endured, 140 

And Trojan troops and Latins, re-assured, 
Wandered and mingled through the forests round ; 
Hurtled the two-edged axe, trees strewed the ground ; 
The ash-tree toppled, the pine thundered down, 
The oak and scented cedar lay o'erthrown ; 145 

Heaped upon wains which murmured ceaseless moan. 

And now Fame flies, prenuntiate of grief ; 
She w T ho brief space before — a space how brief ! — 
Had bruited triumphs to the royal ear, 
Now filled the streets and royal house with fear. 150 
Out — out — the Arcadian population pour, 
And funeral torches, — ancient custom, bore. 
One endless stream of light divides the plain, 
And meets the mourners of the Phrygian train. 
They come : the matrons on the walls on high 155 

Upraise the voice of wail, upraise the cry. 
Evander, too, vainly would they restrain 
His parting steps, and presence there in vain : 
He met the bier and threw himself thereon, 
Yet sobs found utterance in broken tone — 160 

" Not these, Pallas ! these the promises 
Of care and caution with our enemies ; 
Yet well I knew — too well I knew — in sooth 
The generous hopes and confidence of youth : 
The aspirations of the youthful soul, 165 

Glory and honour, bursting from control ; 
Ah me ! the Gods rejected every prayer — 
All my paid vows ! 

Yet thou exempted are, 



Book XI. THE ^NEIS. 317 

holiest wife ! tliy happier race is run ; 

My fates are conquered, and I drag life on 170 

Childless and widower. I, not my boy, 
Kutulians, leagued confederate with Troy ; 
Then should have been for me this pomp of woe, 

1 should lie stretched, Pallas ! and not thou. 
Trojans, I charge not ye. Our treaty stands, 175 

Nor I accuse or curse our plighted hands. 

The bitter lot of age I undergo ; 

He died the Trojan's friend, the Volscian's foe. 

Since Fate decreed a lot so immature, 

'Midst heaps of Yolscians slain he fell in war, — 180 

More noble obsequies I could not claim ; 

Pious iEneas and the Phrygian fame — 

And Tyrrhene chiefs and Tyrrhene army all 

Bearing his trophies at his funeral. 

Thou huge-limbed Turnus, there thou should'st lie, 185 

Had but his years some touch of parity ! 

Trojans, farewell ! Thy mournful task is o'er ; 

Say to your Chief from me, ' If I endure 

The load of life, it is that we require 

The blood of Turnus ; we the son and sire, 190 

Of his right hand, and that we worthy are.' 

That is the only tale to soothe my ear ; 

Not that I seek the joys of life to know, 

But for my son's, or ere we meet below." 

Aurora, meantime, cast benignant rays 195 

O'er human toils, and works, and miseries ; 
Father iEneas now and Tarchon rear 
The funeral pyres ; unto the bay they bear 



318 THE J5NEIS. Book XI. 

Their comrades' corpses, and apply the fires 

Blotting the heavens, — custom of their sires. 200 

Thrice, girt in shining arms, they march around ; 

And thrice they gallop mounted o'er the ground, 

Hooping and halloaing ; and their tears like rain 

Fall on their armour, fall upon the plain. 

The shouts of man join -with the trumpet's sound, 205 

And Latin spoil is cast upon the mound ; 

And fervent wheels and bitted bridles burn, 

And swords and helmets ; also they return 

Unto their lords the gifts they sacred held — 

The useless spear and unavailing shield. 210 

Bodies of oxen huge and bristly swine, 

And flocks of sheep, swept off in raid condign, 

There slaughtered die — their comrades tend and gaze 

Upon the charring dust and waning blaze ; 

And quit unwillingly when dewy night 215 

Spreads o'er inverted heaven her mantle star bedight. 

Nor less the hapless Latins build elsewhere 
Their pyres unnumbered, albeit they inter 
The bodies of their chiefs ; or to the town 
And neighbouring plain send corpses of their own. 220 
The rest, in heaps confused unhonoured thrown, 
Without distinction burnt in dust unknown. 
When the third morning's dawn dispelled the dew, 
The mourners to one heap the ashes drew 
And on the tepid mound imposed more earth. > 225 
Then from the Latin towns there issued forth 
The mingled voice of mourning and of wail ; 
Matrons, and widowed wives, and sisters pale, 



Book XI. THE ^NEIS. 319 

With heavy hearts, and boys that orphan'd are, 

Curse Turnus, hymenseals, and the war. 230 

" Let him," they say, " sustain the fight alone ; 

His is the empire and the cause his own." 

And Drances there inveighs with bitternessj 

Turnus the cause of war and wretchedness ; 

But Turnus, too, hath friends and many ties, — 235 

The queen's high favour, his own victories, 

And fame and trophies won from enemies. 

'Midst this distraction, where all railed or mourned, 
The embassy to Diomed returned ; 

They mournfully declared their mission failed, — 240 
Nor gifts, nor gold, nor added prayers prevailed. 
That arms and succour must be sought elsewhere, 
Or else perforce cease must they war to bear. 
By weight of woe Latinus sinks oppressed, 
iEneas fated was — 'twas manifest ; 245 

And flaming tumuli before his eyes 
Proclaimed the wrath of the offended skies : 
Therefore he summoned to his opened gate 
The Council and the Magnates of the State. 
Convened they come ; and first in place and years, 250 
Enthroned, but sad, the King the sceptre rears. 
The Legates sent to the iEtolian town 
Here make the fulness of their failure known. 
Summoned they were : silence enjoined obeyed, 
And Yenulus, to speak commanded, said : 255 

" citizens, commissioned from this court, 
The Grecian camp and Diomed we sought ; 



320 THE ^NEIS. Book XI. 

Ways perilous passed happily and well, 

And touched the hand by which great Ilion fell. 

The Victor builds Argyripa — a name U60 

Significant in Argive speech and fame — 

Beneath Garganus in lapygian land. 

We entered, were to him admitted, and 

We gave the gifts ; we told our country's name 

And wars, and wherefore we to Arpos came. 265 

He heard us patiently, and calmly said :— 

' Ancient Ausonians ! o'er whom is shed 

The blessed influence of Saturnian rule — 

Ye, nursed and nurtured in a peaceful school, 

What chance of fortune hurries ye to war ? 270 

We who defiled the Asian fields with gore, 

We expiate — and I omit the woes 

Endured beneath the walls where Simois flows ; 

We expiate in woes retributive 

The miserable days in which we live, 275 

Which Priam's self might pity. What those woes 

Arcturus, the sad star of Pallas, knows, 

And Caphareus and rocks Euboiean. 

And Menelaus tempest-driven ran 

To the Proteian pillars wandering wide ; , 280 

Ulysses the iEtnaean Cyclops eyed ; 

And Neoptolemus — But ah ! what use 

To tell of him, or of Idomeneus ? 

Of Locrians dwelling upon Lybian sands, 

Of Mycengeus, murdered by the hands 285 

Of his own wife, on his own threshold slain — 

Adulterers slew the Victor Asian. 



Book XI. THE ^NEIS. 321 

Or of myself, by the great Gods denied 

My glorious Calydon and darling bride ; 

Myself, e'en now, by prodigies pursued, 290 

Left by my comrades, who, with wings endued, 

As birds — woeful punishment ! — haunt so 

The rocks and waters with their plaint of woe. 

And justly I such punishment endure, 

My hand insane, red with celestial gore ; 295 

Yenus, by my hand wounded, forced to flee — 

Ah, no ! no more to fatal fields urge me ; 

To fallen Troy no enmity bear I ; 

Her lot remembered, brings tears to my eye ; 

Those gifts from Latium that ye proffer here, 300 

Bear to iEneas, — to iEneas bear. 

Yclad in arms we met, and well I know 

His shield's defence and his resounding blow ; 

Had Ida borne another, his compeer, 

The Asian onset* Greece had had to bear, 305 

And Dardanus Inachian towns had won. 

Before the walls of Troy whate'er was done, 

The siege delaying to the tenth long year, 

'Twas done by Hector's or JEneas' spear. 

Both famed for courage and for might ; but he, 310 

iEneas, famed the more for piety. 

Go now, accept the hand he proffers you : 

If not, resist his arms ; resist and rue ! ' 

This, best of kings, was Diomed's reply ; 

And condemnation uttered passionately." 315 

So spoke the Legates ; and a rumour ran, 
Hoarse and confused, through rarlks Ausonian, 



322 THE iENEIS. Book XI. 

As when, by rocks delayed, the foaming flood 

Murmurs to find its free descent withstood, 

The banks reverberate the conflict rude. 320 

In the first lull of their unquiet breast, 

Latinus, having first the gods addressed, 

From his high throne began : 

" 0, wiser far, 
Latins, it would have been, decreeing war, 
That we had taken counsel and debate 325 

Before the foe was hurtling at the gate. 
citizens, it needs not words to tell 
The heaven-descended foe invincible, — 
No battle weakens them, no clangers daunt : 
The aid we asked, iEtolia will not grant : 330 

Our hopes once more upon ourselves depend : 
How slender they, how ruin doth descend 
On every enterprise, ye feel and see ! 
Think not I blame or slur your bravery, 
Unanimous our kingdom to protect ; 335 

Ye have essayed what valour could effect. 

The thoughts of my unsettled soul let me 
Now briefly tell : list, and attentive be. 
An ancient realm the Tuscan river by, 
To West Sicania owes me fealty. 340 

That realm Auruncans and Eutulians sow ; 
They subject rugged regions to the plough, 
The steeper mountain-tops depasturing ; 
That region all and pine-woods bordering 
Cede we unto the Trojans ; so we gain 345 

Their friendship and alliance towards our reign. 



Book XI. THE ^USTEIS. 323 

With us by equal laws confederate, 

Here let them build their walls and fix their state ; 

But should they choose to go and leave these bounds, 

And sail again in search of foreign grounds, 350 

Then twice ten barks, oak of Italian plain, 

Or more, if they can man them for the main, 

For them we'll build. Materials are at hand, 

Let them the number and the build command, 

And metal, all, so they will quit this land. 355 

A deputation of one hundred go, 
Let Latins bear the peaceful olive-bough, 
With ivory, golden talents, and the pall, 
And chair of state, and robe imperial : 
Such is my counsel ; now deliberate 360 

Upon the common weal and harassed state." 

Then Drances rose, to Turnus hostile aye, 
With subtle hate and envy to inveigh. 
A magnate he, and eloquent, withal 
Unprompt in battle-field, but prompt in hall ; 365' 

Eeputed wise, but aye of factious mood ; 
Of noble stock by the maternal blood, 
Doubtful his sire's : then Drances rose to blame, 
To rouse man's wrath, and fan it into flame. 
" gracious king, the matter is most plain, 370 

Debate and counsel thereupon are vain ; 
The obstacles at hand all know too well, 
And fain to tell, if that they dared to tell. 
Let him the liberty of speech concede, 
Whose pride and inauspicious counsels lead — 375 

y 2 



324 THE ^BNEIS. Book XI. 

Nay, I will speak liis menaces despite — 

Our realm to ruin, chiefs to hopeless fight. 

Trusting in flight the Trojan camp he storms, 

And wearies Heaven ranting in his arms. 

Add yet one other gift, gracious king, 380 

Add yet one other precious offering : 

Let not his vaunts deter thee, but bestow 

Your daughter's hand on your illustrious foe. 

Such worthy hyinengeals will assure 

A lasting peace for a destructive war. 385 

Doth Turnus sway each heart, unnerve each limb ? 

Then let us fall to earth and beg of him — 

' Thou head and cause of Latian misery, 

Conquered in war, we beg our peace of thee : 

condescend our miseries to feel, 390 

And yield thy claim to king and commonweal ; 

Do thou the only pledge of peace resign. 

Behold me, deemed an enemy of thine ; 

Behold me kneel ; submissively I kneel ; 

Pity your country and consult her weal ! 395 

Enough of death, enough of doom is done ; 

Vanquished, we do entreat thee to be gone ; 

Or if, if truly glory hath such hold— 

If thy heart entertain a thought so bold — 

If royal Latium hath for thee such charms, 400 

Go, meet thine enemy in equal arms, — 

Go, meet his challenge ; win the royal wife ; 

We, humble souls, forsooth we quit this life, 

Unburied and unwept we strew the plains ; — 

Go now, if patriot virtue fire thy veins, 405 

Meet him. who calls, meet him who thee arraigns.' " 



Book XI. THE ^NEIS. 325 

His rising wrath young Turnus scarce restrained, 
He groaned in spirit, but his words maintained : 

" Drances, ever eloquent you are 
When battle hurtles, and the word is war ; 4L0 

First midst the fathers in high words art thou : 
But mighty words are not the matter now. 
Words harmless fall whilst bulwarks check the foe, 
Or ere blood flow the battlements below. 
Then thunder on in eloquence — thy wont — 415 

And fear impute, and cowardice, and taunt : 
Thou, by whose valiant hand such heaps lie slain, 
Thy trophies scattered up and down the plain, 
Why is thy vivid virtue forced to yield ? 
Behold the pighted foe and battle-field ! 420 

Kise, let us thither ! What ! thou dost not stir ? 
Mars calls to field, and Drances need the spur ! 
O'erweening and fugacious as a cur. 

I beaten ! I, thou filth ! who will say so, 
Who saw the tumid Tiber swollen flow 425 

With Trojan blood, extinct Evander's race, 
Or corpses of despoiled Arcadian trace ? 
Not so I proved to Bitias, Pandarus, 
And all the crowd I sent to Tartarus, 
Pent in their camp and girded by their wall. 430 

No hope have we ? assurance, none at all ? 
Utter thy moodiness to men of Troy, 
And thine own party, factious to annoy ; 
Go, laud the foe, twice beaten as they are, 
Traduce the Latin name, and blame the war : 435 

Achilles Larissseus, tremble now ; 
Bow Diomed and Myrmidonians bow ; 



326 THE iENEIS. Book XI. 

Flee Aufidus, retrogressive, flee ; 
Nor seek thy bourn, the Adriatic sea. 

Behold, the coward shrinks, and feigns to fear ; 440 
Souls base as thine would but debase my spear ; 
No, keep it in thy breast, to batten there. 

" king and sire, 1 turn to thee again : 
If truly for the state no hope remain, 
If we, deserted, are to weep and mourn, 445 

If fortune have for us no further bourn, 
Then sue for peace with our right hands held forth. 
But, oh, if aught remain of pristine worth, 
Kather, far rather, deem that fate more blest 
From slaughters and from worthy toils to rest, 450 

Or dying, fall ; and falling, bite the ground. 
But if our troops untouched, and friends surround, 
If towns and chiefs maintain alliance good, 
If Troy has purchased victory with blood, 
If pyre for pyre is reared from them and us, 455 

Why raise we now this wailing piteous ? 
Why do we tremble ere the trumpet sound ? 
Our lot will vary ere the year turn round ; 
Fortune will fickle and befriending prove, 
Aye mutable, inconstant in her love. 460 

Arpi refuseth aid, and iEtolus ; 
Not so Messapus and Tolumnius, 
Gifted Tolumnius and many more. 
Large is the congress from the Latian shore, 
And plains Laurentian ; and the Volscian maid, 465 
Camilla, brings an army to our aid, 
Her troops of horse and crowds in brass arrayed. 



Book XI. THE JENEIS. 327 

Or should the Trojans challenge me to fight, 

Nor you refuse, and none deny my right, 

Not yet hath victory so shunned my spear 470 

That I to be your champion should fear. 

I shall go forth with confidence, although 

Great as the great Achilles were my foe ; 

With equal armour forged by Vulcan's hand, 

I, Turnus, for my home and country stand, 475 

With Daunian spirit, undegenerate ! 

Fate grant iEneas call me ! grant it, Fate ! 

From Drances far, ye gods, let me atone, — 

Unless your wrath forbid it, me alone, — 

Where death or fame, and honour may be won." 480 

Whilst they contentious thus the moments spent 
iEneas moved his camp and armament : 
And lo ! amidst their loud tumultuous din, 
Unheralded, a messenger burst in ; 
The foe was up — Trojans and Tyrrhenes stood 485 

Spread o'er the plain that bordered Tiber's flood ; 
Then rising passion vents itself aloud, 
And sinks the hearts and spirits of the crowd. 
For arms they bustle — arms the youth demand : 
The while the murmuring sires trembling stand. 490 
Discord, with tones discordant, rumbled there, 
As when in leafy haunts or forest lair 
The birds, in countless myriads, light down ; 
Or as, the fishy mouths of Padus on, 
The scream discordant of the noisy swan. 495 



328 THE -SINEIS. , Book XI. 

Then Turnus rose, and seized the moment fit : 
" Now peaceful citizens in council sit, 
The whilst the enemy shall rob and raid." 
Then rushing forth, impetuously said : 
" Away, away ; and thou, Volusus, hie ! 500 

Warn ye the Yolsci ! arm the Kutuli ! 
Messapus bid, his horsemen to the plain ; 
Bid Coras and Catillus him sustain ; 
The rest that man not battlements or gate 
Descend in arms, and for my orders wait." 505 

With mind dejected, and with hopes o'erthrown, 
Father Latinus from his throne came down, 
And mindful sighed, remembering — self-accused — 
Dardan iEneas for his son refused. 

They trench before the gates, and fortify, 510 

With stake and stone, the portals stern and high : 
Matrons and boys are toiling in the moat 
Whilst the rauk trumpet sounds the battle note : 
A varied crowd of beings line the wall, 
Necessity demands and summons all. 515 

And now the Queen and Matrons, a great train, 
Ascend the Arx unto Minerva's fane — 
Offerings they bear : with bright and downcast eyes 
The Maid Lavinia them accompanies, 
Misfortune's child ! the Matrons following 52o 

With frankincense, the mournful accents sing ; 
" Tritonia Virgin, Warrior-goddess, hear ! 
" Break with thine hand, break the Phrygian spear, 
" And crush to earth the pirate seaborne here ! " 



Book XI. .THE ^NEIS. 329 

Now raging Turnus girds his armour on : 525 

Rough with its brazen scales the breastplate shone ; 
The greaves descending flashed in gilded pride, 
Unhelmeted as yet, with sword on side, 
Fulgent with gold descended he the height 
Exulting, hopeful, burning for the fight : 530 

So the freed courser, from his broken chain, 
Dashes in liberty athwart the plain ; 
He seeks the females on remembered meads, 
Or well-known waters canopied by reeds, 
And with dilated nostrils, streaming mane, 535 

He petulantly neighs, thrilling at every vein. 

And opposite, with troop of horse, is seen 
Approaching him, Camilla, Yolscian Queen ! 
She vaults to earth beneath the portal gate, 
And the whole troop their chieftain imitate ; 540 

Whilst thus she spoke : " Turnus — if confidence 
And firm belief may sanction my defence, 
Alone I dare oppose the Trojan band, 
Alone the Tuscan horsemen will withstand ; 
Thou and thy foot beneath the wall remain, 545 

And grant to me the battle of the plain." 

Turnus, with eyes entranced upon the maid, 
" Grace Italian — Virgin Queen/' he said, 
What shall I strive to say, what thanks return ? 
How praise the courage wherewithal you burn? 550 

Share we the toil : — iEneas sends a band, 
A light-armed force, to devastate our land, 



330 THE ^NEIS., Book XI. 

So fame reports ; — the body of the foe 

Meantime he leads across the mountain brow. 

Meet we this stratagem with counter guile : 555 

I occupy that double pass, the while 

You, preconcerted, meet the Tuscan horse. 

Take you Messapus and the Latin force, 

And band Tiburtian ; but do thou command.'' 

Then he addressed Messapus and his band, 560 

And led his men unto their ambushed stand. 

There is a crooked valley, suited for 
The daring ambush and for wily war. 
Black are its cliffs and dense its leafy screen, 
And blind and narrow passes them between ; 565 

Above, 'midst caves and rocky jags, there lies 
A secret area, fitted to surprise, 
On either side its ridge, advancing foes : 
Itself a sure retreat, but to oppose 
Or to heave rocks, deadly to enemies ; 570 

Thither they wend, and there the ambush lies. 

Meantime Diana, in the realms of air, 

Called Opis from the train of damsels fair, 

And, woe depicted on her face, she said : 

" Opis, to battle is Camilla sped, 575 

Girded with my, there, unavailing arms ; 

Dearest of all ; nor is the love that warms 

Diana's breast a charm to be erased. 

For Metabus, from old Privernum chased, 
By hate and envy banished his domains, 580 



Book XI. THE iENEIS. 331 

Fleeing through hostile camps and battle-plains, 

His child Camilla in his breast sustains — 

Her mother's name, Casmilla, and he found 

Joy in the similar but varied sound — 

She nestling at his breast, the exile flees 585 

Through mountain fastnesses and thickest trees, 

Infested and beset by Volscian foes. 

Barring his way, lp ! Amasenus flows. 

Upon its bank in doubt the warrior stood, 

The abounding river poured a raging flood ; 590 

Prepared and fain to swim, his step he stayed, 

Not for himself but for his charge delayed. 

At length this daring thought upon him broke : 

Unto his gnarled spear of knotty oak, 

Cradled in rind and cork he swathed the maid ; 595 

Then poised and paused the while the father prayed — 

1 Alma Latonia, Virgin-Huntress, hear ! 

This little maid a father offers here, 

Trusting to thee, upon thy spear she flees : 

Goddess, accept and sway her destinies ! ' 600 

He said, and cast her through the yielding air : 
Above the sounding waters flew the spear, 
And with the spear my little votary flew. 
Then Metabus — the foemen full in view — 
Leaped in the raging and the roaring flood. 605 

Victor upon the grassy turf he stood, 
And from the sward retrieved, my gift, his child. 
A shepherd thence, he nursed her in the wild ; 
No roof above, no city walls surround — 
Them he detested — but with glades around, 610 



332 THE ASSfflS. Book XI. 

Fed with tlie milk of mares my maiden grew, 

And her own lips that rugged nurture drew. 

Soon as she ran she played with hunting-spears, 

Or bow in hand the sounding quiver bears ; 

Hqr hair no gold, her limbs no palla deck ; 615 

A tiger's spoil was fastened round her neck ; 

A little child with tender hand she drew 

The missile dart, or with the sling she slew 

The crane Strymonian or the snowy swan. 

Many a Tyrrhene mother for her son 620 

Chose her, in vain ; contented to be free, 

A virgin huntress and to follow me : 

fain am I that she had never known 

The trump of Fame, or Trojans left alone, — 

A loved and cherished nymph had she been now. 625 

Opis descend ; glide to the world below, 

Seek Latium's fields where fate decrees the fight 

With unpropitious omens ; — there alight, 

From forth this quiver draw the shaft of fate. 

And who, by wound, her form dares violate, 630 

In expiation his own blood must flow ; 

Or Trojan, or Italian, lay him low — 

I, in a cloud, her dust unspoiled will save 

And sepulchre in a paternal grave." 

Diana spoke — her flight the ether rends, 635 

As the bright nymph, hid in black mist, descends. 

Meantime the Trojan army neared the wall, 
Approaching Tuscan chiefs, and horsemen all, 



Book XI. THE ^NEIS. 333 

Deployed in companies ; the trodden plain 

Kings to the courser's hoof and iron rein. 640 

A wood of lances flashes o'er the field, 

And the plain glitters with the spear and shield. 

Coras, Catillus, and Camilla's band, 

Messapus and the Latins them withstand ; 

Their good right hands protrude the heavy spear, 645 

And darts they brandish as the foe draws near : 

Now they draw near, 'midst shouts of battle din, 

A short cast of a javelin within. 

Then rose the shout of war, their steeds they prick, 

And darts, from darkened heavens, fall as thick 650 

As falls the flaky snow from skies of jet. 

Forthwith Tyrrhenus and Aconteus met, 

And man to man, and spear opposed to spear, 

And steed to steed in unrestrained career. 

As falls the bolt, or bullet-engine strung, 655 

So fell Acontius, and to distance flung 

Yielded his life in air. 

The Latins fled ; 
With shield behind, straight to the walls they sped. 
The Trojans follow, — them Asylas leads ; 
But near the gates the Latins turn their steeds, 660 

And shouting charge ! — in turn the Trojans flee. 

Thus, in a shelvy bay of rock, the sea 
With force alternate presses on the strand, 
And heaves the rattling beach and sweeps the sand, 
Then back returning re-absorbs its foam 665 

Madly retreating, to its level, home. 



334 THE ^NEIS. Book XI. 

Twice from Etruscans the Kutulians sped 
Twice, with their shields behind, Etrucsans fled. 
But when the third assault of war began, 
The battle joined, and man encountered man. 670 

Then verily was heard the dying groan, 
Then horse and man on bloody field, o'erthrown 
In common doom ; — and battle reigns alone. 

Orsilochus, who feared to face the force 
Of Kemulus, cast spear against his horse ; 675 

The wounded brute impatient made a bound, 
And falling dashed his master to the ground. 

Catillus slew Iolas ; — next he slew 
Herminius, big in frame and courage too ; 
Whose yellow locks, no helm his head upon, 680 

Were loosely o'er his naked shoulders thrown : 
Weapons he feared not, but the Latin spear 
The naked back transfixed and settled there. 

On every side blood flows and weapons wound, 
Glory is won, and death, more glorious, found. 685 

Camilla there, exulting Amazon, 

One bosom bared, the quiver belted on, 

Scattered her darts, or, arm unwearied, paid 

Blows with the battle-axe of two-edged blade. 

Her, Dian's arms and golden bow bedeck, 690 

And she retreating, with reverted neck, 

Wings a true shaft from the resounding yew. 

Her maidens her attend — a chosen few : 



Book XL THE ^NEIS. 335 

Tulla and young Larina by her side, 

And, brandishing her axe Tarpeia, ride, 695 

Italian maidens : they Camilla tend, — 

In war their comrade, and in peace their friend. 

Threician Amazons, Thermodon on, 
So raise the dance and coloured armour don, 
When round Hippolyta, — or new from war, 700 

Penthesileia, in her golden car, 
Victorious returning ; — they upraise 
Their lunar shields and utter shouts of praise. 

Virgin ! who first, what number was the slain ? 
How many scattered corpses strewed the plain ? 705 
Eumenius first, of Clytius the son, 
Thro' Iris broad breast the spear of fire hath run. 
Gory he falls, and falling bites the ground, 
And dying, vainly grapples with his wound. 

Liris and Pagasus then strew the plain, 710 

Liris she struck retrieving his lost rein ; 
The other lent him unavailing aid, 
And shared his fate, slain by the martial maid. 
Tereas, Harpalycus ; she adds to these, 
Amaster too, son of Hippotades ; 715 

Demophoon and Chromis — every dart 
Launched from her hand piercing a Phrygian heart. 

Behold Ornitus — unknown arms he wore, 
An Iapygian steed the hunter bore ; 
A hide of bull was o'er his shoulders thrown, 720 

And a wolf's skull and jaws involved his own 



336 THE iENEIS. Book XL 

With flashing teeth — he bore a sharpened goad ; 

Hugest of men, with loudest tongue he rode. 

Him, too, she slew, and spoke these words to jeer : 

" What, Tyrrhene, did you think you hunting were ? 725 

A woman's arm at length confounds thy vaunts. 

Yet if in Shades below your father taunts, 

Say, 'twas Camilla's hand that conquered you." 

Orsilochus and Butes then she slew ; 

Butes, with adverse spear, his helm beneath 730 

The undefended neck admitted death ; 

Orsilochus she, feigning flight, deceived, — 
He headlong followed e'en as he believed : 
Then turning on her prey she smote him down, 
The axe descending armour through and bone ; 735 

In vain he yielded, mercy prayed in vain, — 
His face is hidden in his spattered brain. 

Aunus of Appennine, his son rode there, 
And viewed the fearful spectacle with fear. 
Great in Liguria, where fates fraud allow, . 740 

But fraud or flight will hardly stead him now. 
Thus he began : — " It is thy matchless steed, 
Not strength thine own, but adventitious speed ; 
Descend on foot and meet me on the plain, 
Then shaft thou learn who braggart is and vain." 745 
She blushed in conscious worth and prompt to yield, 
In equal arms stood forth upon the field, 
A sword unsheathed and a deviceless shield. 

The youth now deemed him safe ; his horse's head 
Quickly he turned, incontinently fled, 750 



Book XI. THE iENEIS. 337 

And overspurred him with the heel and mail. 
" Ligurian false, thy fraud shall not avail 
Base spirit touched by momentary worth ; 
Thy father, Aunus, sees not thee henceforth." 
The maiden said ; on foot outsped the horse, 755 

Seized on the reins and checked his headlong course, 
And took revenge in blood without remorse. 
So stooping from its cloudy realms above 
The headlong falcon strikes the flying dove ; 
E'en so the heart her crooked talons tear, 760 

And scatter blood and feathers to the air. 

But now doth Jupiter, Olympus on, 
The sire of all, behold the deeds so done. 
He urges Tyrrhene Tarchon to his part, 
And stimulates with wrath his swelling heart. 765 

Behold him, Tarchon, rallying broken bands ; 
Headlong he rushes, thundering commands, 
Keanimating runaways by name. 
" Faint-hearted Tuscans, perdurable shame, 
Before a woman do ye turn and flee ? 770 

Before a woman's hand ? Oh, infamy ! 
What ! bear ye pointless spears and useless arms ? 
Not thus, not thus ye fight when Venus warms ; 
When Bacchus, with the choir and pipe, invites 
To song and feast and cups of festive nights ; - 775 

Not backwards thus in companies ye move, 
When the haruspex good and holy grove 
And victims fat supply the feasts ye love." 



338 THE JENEIS. Book XI. 

So Tarchon, and, despising death, rushed through, 

Eight on the ranks of the opposing crew ; 780 

And Venulus encountering, grasped his foe 

And stretched him captive o'er the saddle-bow. 

Then arose clamour, as all Latin eyes 

Follow the fiery Tarchon as he flies, 

Bearing his prey, armour and man away. 785 

Him Tarchon seeks with head of lance to slay, 

Searching an ingress to inflict the wound, 

But grappling with him writhes the captive round 

Warding the blows : the eagle thus on high 

Bears off the wrifching snake into the sky, 790 

With crooked talons so he grips her fast ; 

The wounded reptile writhing volumes vast 

With bristling scales, high crest and hissing jaws 

Confronts the captor — vainly 'gainst his claws 

And crooked beak and verberating wings. 795 

So, on his foe, the fiery Tarchon springs, 

And from Tiburtian ranks him captive brings. 

Their chief's example his Mseonians see, 
Encouraged view and rush to victory. 

Then Aruns, death-devoted, hovered round 800 

The fleet Camilla, watching her to wound. 

Where'er the virgin turned, there hovered he, 

Abiding chance and opportunity. 

When she advances, then he turns his rein, 

And follows silently across the plain ; 805 

When she retreats, then he retreats again. 



Book XI. THE ^NEIS. 339 

Chloreus, Cybele's high priest, passing by 
In Phrygian armour glittering, caught her eye. 
A fiery steed he rode ; the hide it bore 
With golden scales, like feathers, covered o'er ; 810 

Himself in purple and Iberian blue, 
Shot shafts Cortynian from the Lycian yew. 
The seer in golden helm and quiver shone, 
A linen croceate chlamys he had on, 
A shining buckle held each gathered fold, 815 

His tunic worked, greaves of barbaric mould. 

The virgin saw ; whatever she designed, 
Or vows and spoils and temples swayed her mind, 
Or that thereafter she might hunting ride 
Clad in such captive spoil and gilded pride ; 820 

The virgin saw ; by female pride subdued, 
Kashly she followed, blindly she pursued. 
The hour had come, and Aruns ere he threw 
The furtive spear prayed thus the Gods unto : 
" Apollo, chief of Gods ! thou Deity 825 

Of high Soracte, where we worship thee ; 
Upon whose peak we raise the flaming pyre, 
And tread securely through the blaze of fire, 
Saved by religion, sanctified by thee : 

shield us, sire, shield us from infamy. 830 

1 ask no trophy, seek no woman's spoils,— 
Enough for me past honours and past toils ; 
Grant that by me this pest may meet her doom,. 
And I, my home inglorious resume I " 

Apollo heard his suppliant votary's prayer ; 835 

One half accorded, one half tossed in air ; 

z 2 



340 THE ^ISTEIS. Book XI. 

Perturbed Camilla's sudden death he grants, 

But tossed to winds the safe return he wants. 

And therefore, when the hurtling weapon flew, 

Thither the Yolscian army turned its view; 840 

Concentered on the Queen each startled eye ; 

She, she alone marked not the arrow fly ; 

Nor sound nor sight availed her, till it sank 

Deep in her bosom and the life-blood drank. 

Then Aruns fled, joy overcome by fear ; 845 

Startled he fled, nor dared the nearer spear ; 

He fled, nor dared to meet the maiden then. 

So to his solitude and mountain den 
The raiding wolf, scared by the daring deed 
That caused the steer or shepherd swain to bleed, 850 
The raiding wolf claps to his tail and flees 
From the revengeful vengeance he foresees ; 
So from the eye of man doth Aruns fly, 
Nor asks for fame, but courts obscurity. 

She tugs with failing strength the stubborn dart, 855 
And snaps the head within the wounded part. 
Her colour sinks, her eyes grow dim in death, 
The crimson lip fails with the failing breath. 
Fainting, expiring, Acca she addressed — 
Acca, of all her maidens loved the best, 860 

With whom she ever shared her joy and woe : — 
" Acca, my sister, victors hitherto — 
Pierced with this bitter wound, my eyes grow dim : 
To Turnus — my injunctions bear to him ; 
Bid him fall back at once and save the town. 865 

Fly and farewell." 

The reins fell down, 



Book XI. THE ^NEIS. 341 

And her fair form, sunk gently to the ground, 
Whilst the cold shudder quivered it around ; 
The head declined, the slender neck gave way, 
And, with a sob, life passed indignantly. 870 

Then rose, to golden skies, — Camilla low, 
The shout of triumph and the wail of woe. 
Camilla slain — forward each foeman springs, 
Trojans and Tuscans and Arcadian wings. 

But Dian's maid upon the mountain brow — 875 

Opis — enthroned, marked every deed below. 
Unmoved she sat, and viewing all beneath, 
Beheld Camilla's forfeiture in death. 
She groaned, and from her inmost heart she said, 
" Too heavy is thy chastisement, maid ! 880 

Too heavy for thy warfare against fate : 
Availed it nought for thee, thy maiden state, 
That thou Diana's votary hadst been, 
And borne her bow and dwelt in forest green ? 
Thy Goddess quits thee not ; thy death shall be 885 
Widely divulged and live in memory. 
And he whose hand assailed thy sacred breath 
Shall expiate the sacrilege by death." 

A tumulus there stood, an ancient tomb, 
Of King Dercennus, in sepulchral gloom, 890 

King of the old Laurentians ; the mound 
Of heaped-up earth with solemn ilex frowned. 
Thither the Goddess stooped and took her stand, 
Armed against Aruns her unfailing hand. 



342 THE ^NEIS. Book XI. 

Him she beheld, bursting with inborn pride, 895 

" Dost thou," she said, " clost thou triumphant ride ? 

Nay, turn thee hither, turn thee and pursue 

The fatal way unto Camilla due : 

Turn thee to die, albeit too good, I ween, 

Diana's arrows for a soul so mean." 90O 

Threissa spoke, and from the quiver drew 

The fatal shaft and bent the stubborn yew. 

And strained the bending horns, until compressed 

The barb touched on the bow, the notch the breast. 

He, Aruns, heard at once and felt the steel ; 905 

His own companions heedless saw him reel — 

Forgotten and unknown, in dust he lay, 

Ere to Olympus Opis winged her way. 

Now the light Volscian horse, their mistress dead, 
Fled first — Rutnlians and Atinas fled. 910 

Their leaders overthrown, the scattered bands 
Dispersed and fled for safety on all hands, 
Besought their camp, and nothing could oppose 
The Trojan charge : backward they cast their bows 
Dangling o'er wearied shoulders all unstrung ; 915 

The dusty plain with clattering horse-hoofs rung. 
The matrons on the watch-tower rent their hair 
And raised the female clamour of despair ; 
But danger meets them in the portal wide — 
Conquered and conquering rush a mingled tide : 920 
Within the gate, within the friendly wall, 
By his own threshold doth the warrior fall. 



Book XI. THE 2ENEIS. 343 

Then did some close the gate and bar the way ; 

Excluded, some become the Trojan prey, 

And in the fosse and underneath the wall 925 

Beneath parental eyes they fight and fall. 

Some maddened — urged to frenzy by their state — 

Kide at the portal, dash against the gate. 

The whilst the matrons, urged by patriot love 

And emulation, gird the wall above ; 930 

Remembering Camilla, thence they throw 

Their sharpened stakes and burning brands below, — 

Contented well to die so they repel the foe. 

Meantime to Turnus came the envoy pale, 
And told to him her inauspicious tale. 935 

Camilla dead — the beaten Volscian plight — 
The threatening foe — the panic and the flight. 
Indignant he, as Jove's harsh fates compel, 
Breaks up the ambuscade and quits the dell. 
And scarce abandoned that position strong 940 

Or ere iEneas, its denies among, 
Filed through the dreary pass and scaled the brow : 
And yet so closely they descend below, 
iEneas viewed at once the dusty plain 
And the Laurentian retreating train ; 945 

And Turnus only knew iEneas near 
By the horse-hoofs that echoed on his ear. 

Again would they have fought, again have bled, 
But in Iberian waters Phoebus red 
Watered his steeds, and Night resumed her reign. 950 
In camp and leaguered wall they rest again. 



Book XII. THE ^IXEIS. 345 



BOOK XII. 

When Turnus saw the Latin spirit quelled, 

His conduct and own courage lightly held, 

Implacably his aspirations rose 

And purpose stern the foeman to oppose. 

On Punic plains the Libyan lion so 5 

Sore wounded in the breast, pressed by the foe, 

Erects the bristly terrors of his mane 

To snap with bloodied jaw the spear in twain : 

E'en so young Turnus rising in his pride, 

Addressed the king, and haughtily replied : 10 

" Behold me ready ! and the iEneadse 

Cannot retract their words, base though they be. 

Grant, Father, unto me the combat grant, 

The victims slay, pronounce the covenant. 

Or by my hand to Tartarus be hurled 15 

Yon base deserter of the Asian world ; 

Alone to me the common cause confide ; 

If he be victor, then his be the bride." 

Latinus answered him with soul sedate : 

" heart of youth, thus generous and elate, 20 

Behoves it mine to be as just and wise, 

And care and remedy for all devise ; 



346 THE JENEIS. Book XII. 

Thine is the Daunian realm, paternal land 

And towns, made captive by thine own right hand. 

Thine are my revenues, my love is thine ; 25 

And many — many a maicl of noblest line, 

Of Latian and Lauren tian family, 

Worthy and willing to espouse with thee. 

Now give me leave, the whilst that I relate, 
And you attend, the will of partial fate. 30 

The oracles of gods and men denied 
Our ancient chiefs, who sought to be allied 
To me and mine : but won by love of thee, 
My grieving wife, and consanguinity, 
All bonds I broke, all consequents defied, 35 

War and the gods, refusing him the bride : 
With what result, O Turnus, thou dost know, — 
Thou foremost in our battles and our woe. 
Beaten in two great battles, we sustain 
Siege in these walls, the last hope of our reign ; 40 

Ked with our blood doth Tiber onward now, 
Our bones unburied bleach those plains below. 
But why reiterate the woeful tale ? — 
ISTo madness prompts my spirit fixed to fail. 
Is it not wise, thou living, to pursue, 45 

That which thou dead I am prepared to do ? 
W T hat would Kutulians consanguineous say 
What other realms Italian, if that we 
Exposed — forfend it, Fortune ! — periled thee, 
Seeking my child and my affinity ? 50 

Turnus ! mark of war the miseries — 
Its many miseries ; — and domestic ties — 



Book XII. THE ^NEIS. 347 

Thy aged father, even now, afar 

Pent in ancestral walls of Ardea." 

So spoke Latinus, to assuage the ire 55 

And wrath of Turnus ; but he fanned its fire. 

He, when his words found vent, " And I prefer, 

Father ! " he said, " the clangers to incur. 

But we, beloved sire ! have strong right hands, 

And gushing blood follows our biting brands; 60 

Nor is his goddess-mother here to bring 

Aid feminine — him cloud envelopping." 

But now the Queen, with death-presaging eye, 
The named conditions viewed instinctively. 
" O Turnus, by these tears, by whatsoe'er 65 

Amata may invoke to touch thee near — 
Hope of mine age, sooth of my misery, 
And of our Latin realm the rest and stay ; 
Thou upon whom alone our house relies, — 
Renounce, I say, this doubtful enterprise ; 70 

That only do I ask : for be thou sure 
Thy lot and portion in the present war 
I too must share, unto death woe beguiled, 
Nor captive see ^Eneas wed my child." 

Her mother's speech Lavinia listened to, 75 

And equal tears her burning cheeks bedew, 
As kindling them the fire of love beamed through. 
And like, as pure and Indian ivory 
Beceives the impress deep of Tyrian dye, 
Or as the pale and drooping lily shows, 80 

Pent and encircled by the dark red rose, 



348 THE JENEIS. Book XII. 

So stood the maid, whilst blushes her betray. 

And Turnus, love entranced, turned him that way 

To gaze enraptured on his promised bride, 

As more resolved in accent, he replied : 85 

" With tears and omens burden not my soul, 

Wending to battle under Fate's control, 

O mother, I beseech : I am not free 

To shun my death, if fate my death decree. 

Idmon, my challenge to the Phrygian bear — 90 

No peaceful message. When the steeds appear 

With car Auroran, purpling yonder east, 

Be Trojan and Rutulian warfare ceased. 

The lot of war depends our swords upon ; 

Lavinia must in yonder field be won." S5 

He spoke departing ; homeward he repaired, 
Demanding straight his coursers. They appeared : 
He joy'd to see, led forth, how proud they trode. 
The Thracian Orithyia them bestowed, 
His ancestor Pilumnus on : they were 100 

White as the driven snow, and swift as air. 
The charioteers restrained them in their pride, 
With hands applausive, soothing mane and side. 
Then Turnus armed, the breastplate of dense mould 
Was rough with mingled orichalc and gold ; 105 

His armour girded on, him they invest 
With sword, and shield, and helm of rubric crest. 
That sword the Fire G-od to Daunus gave, 
Plunged by him hissing in the Stygian wave. 



Book XII. THE ^NEIS. 349 

Selecting then the hugest spear of all 110 

That decked the central column of the hall — 

Auruncan Actor's spoil, he poising said, 

" Never invoked in vain, by my hand sped, 

Great Actor's formerly as mine to-day, 

Prompt be ye now, and my behests obey ; 115 

Pierce through the breastplate with resistless blow, 

Lay the effeminated Phrygian low, 

In dust and gore his perfumed hair despoil, 

Crisped with hot irons, smeared with myrrh and oil." 

He spoke with wrath apparent in his eye, 120 

Whence sparks of burning passion flash and fly. 
So roars the bull, prelusive of the fight, 
As on the nearest tree he tries his might , 
With thundering hoof he wounds the earth below, 
And heaven above reverberates the blow. 125 

Meantime, as dreadful in maternal mail 
iEneas armed rejoicing ; to the wail 
lulus of, and discontented friends, 
Fate he expounds : then to Latinus sends 
Acceptance of the terms his legate bore, 130 

And joys, considering the warfare o'er. 

Close on the rosy footsteps of the morn 

Sol's fiery horses o'er the mountains borne, 

With thrilling nostrils petulantly neigh. 

Beneath, the battle-field and city lay — 135 

Kutulians and Trojans ; and of sod 

An altar built, sacred to every god. 



350 THE ^GNEIS. Book XII. 

In linen clothed, some fire, some water bear, 

And thither, brows verbena-bound, repair. 

Forth from the gate pour'd forth the Ausonian band, 140 

And opposite Trojans and Tyrrhenes stand — 

Their various weapons, brand, and shield, and spear — 

As if that day stern Mars them summoned there. 

Heading their thousands, glittering to the sight, 

The leaders move in gold and purple dight. 145 

Of race Assaracan moves Mnestheus on ; 

Messapus, steed-subduer, l^eptune's son ; 

And brave Asylas. Halting at command, 

All prop their spears, and, shield reclining, stand. 

Women and aged men, and rabble rout, . 150 

Hang on the city roofs and towers about, 

And from the walls and portal gates peer out. 

Saturnian Jano from Albano's crest — 
Which then nor name nor eminence possessed — 
The Trojan force and Latin town surveyed, 155 

And all the field of combat thence displayed. 
Unto the goddess of that silvery flood 
Heaven's Goddess spoke : that silvery flood and wood 
Bestowed upon her Jove imperial by, 
In recompense for 'reft virginity. 160 

" Juturna rise ! nymph worthy thy domain ; 
So dear unto me, that I view again 
Without regret the conquest of my lord, 
And pardon to his venial fault accord, 
In joy that thou heaven's seats participate. 165 

Juturna, charge not me with ills of fate, 



Book XII. THE ^ENEIS. 351 

Whilst I detail those ills impending near ; 

For well thou know'st, whilst Fate allowed, I ne'er 

Have ceased the Latin cause to advocate. 

But now thy brother courts unequal fate ; 170 

The hour of wrath and peril now draws near. 

I cannot break the covenant, nor dare ; 

I from the field of battle must away. 

Thou canst and mayst ; up, Goddess, and essay — 

May Fortune soothe our misery to-day!" 175 

Juturna heard, with tears all unrepressed, 
And hands that smote the beauties of her breast : 
" Restrain thy tears and unavailing breath, 
And snatch thy brother from impending death," 
Juno Saturnian said; " war re-allume ; 180 

The fatal treaty break — remembering whom 
I am, advising." But irresolute 
The Goddess left the nymph in sorrow mute. 

Now moving thitherward Latinus rode, 
In a quadriga ample, huge, and broad ; 185 

Twelve golden rays upon his brow aspire, 
Ancestral emblem of the solar fire. 
And Turnus in his biga there repaired ; 
Two spears broad-headed quivering he reared. 
And, of our Roman root the origin, 190 

With shield siderial, arms celestial in, 
Father iEneas, with Ascanius near — 
The other hope of Rome — there wending were. 
The priest in white attends, and thither borne 
The bristly pig, bidental sheep unshorn ; 195 



352 THE ^ENEIS. Book XII. 

They led the victims to the lighted pyre, 

And, turning to the orb of solar fire, 

They rnark'd the destined victims' heads with steel, 

And shed libations, scattered salted meal. 

Father iEneas first unsheathed the brand. 200 

" Sun, be thou witness ! witness thou, land ! — 
In hope of which such perils we incur : — 
And thou Omnipotent, Jupiter ! 
Saturnian Juno, exorable now! 

Swayer of battles, mighty Mavors, thou ! 205 

Ye sacred fountains, and ye local floods, 
Ye gods marine, and ye celestial gods ! 
Ye I invoke. 

If victory Ausonian Turnus crown, 
We, conquered, will re-seek Evander's town ; 210 

lulus quit his claim, and never more, 
With arms rebellious, seek the Latian shore. 
But if fair victory my lot befriend, — 
Which omens and propitious gods portend, — 
No hostile act attend ye from my hand ; 215 

Troy and Italia blended share the land, 
Joined in alliance irrevocable, 
With equal laws and amity to dwell ; 
My gods and holy rites with her to share. 
Latinus still the crown and sceptre bear, 220 

My Trojans for themselves a town will frame, 
Gracing our city with Lavinia's name." 
iEneas said : 

Latinus raised his eyes, 
Extending forth his right hand to the skies ; 



Book XII. THE ^NEIS. 353 

" By the same land, and sea, and sky, I swear ; 225 

Latona's offspring twain, and Janus, hear ; 

Ye realms of Dis, inferior mysteries ; 

And thou, O Jove ! whose thunder ratifies 

The oaths of man, thy sanction do I claim, 

Thy fane attesting and its sacred flame. 230 

Far distant be that woeful day, to break, 

Whate'er betide, this covenant we make, 

No force assail it, though the floods should flow 

And drown the world, or heaven descend below. 

E'en as this wood (the sceptre which he bore) 235 

Cut from its trunk may vegetate no more, 

But framed and fashioned by the cunning hand, 

In gold enclosed, a sceptre of command, 

Confirms the Latin voice, and binds its land." 

So spoke the King : the Princes present all. 240 

Then with due ritual did the victims fall — 
The sacred entrails, palpitating, load 
The shrine encumbered, borne on chargers broad. 

But even now the combat to man's eyes 
Unequal shows, and murmurings arise. 245 

Contrasting and self-evident to sight, 
Turnus himself gives such opinion weight : 
Dejected, pale, and sorrowful he stood, 
And rear'd his suppliant hands in dreamy mood. 

Juturna present marked the murmurings loud, 250 
And knew the hearts unstable of the crowd ; 
Straightway Camertes' honoured form she took, — 
He, of illustrious house and noble stock, 

2 A 



354 THE iENEXS. Book XII. 

Heired his paternal fame and won his own ; — 

His form she took, and 'midst the ranks is gone 255 

Dissension sowing in his honoured tone : — 

" Is't noble, Kutulians, to expose 
One combatant and victim to our foes ? 
In numbers double, say in what are we 
Unequal unto them ? — in bravery ? 260 

Behold them all : there Fate-assembled stand 
Trojan, Arcadian, and base Tuscan band ! 
In numbers all unequal to supply 
Two Latin warriors with one enemy. 
He, to the Gods whose altars sanctify, 265 

Shall live in fame immortal, though he die ; 
And we despoiled beneath the Victor's might 
Must till the fields, for which we would not fight." 

The warriors with indignation heard, 
E'en Latins and Laurentians changed appeared ; 270 
Those men so clamorous when fortune failed, 
Who called for peace, now contrariwise railed 
And called for battle, and the terms denied 
By which young Turnus was enjeopardied. 

Sister Juturna seized the favouring hour 275 

And gave a sign in heaven, to overpower 
And dazzle and deceive their hearts and eyes. 
Behold the Bird of Jove 'midst ruddy skies 
Stooped on a plump of swans of thundering wings — 
A mighty patriarch clutched, away he springs ; 280 

In vain ! the fellow fowl assail, and lo ! 
They darken heaven — they lash their yellow foe ; 



Book XII. THE ^NEIS. 355 



Encumbered who can neither fight nor fly. 

He drops the prey 'midst clamours loud and high, 

And through the clouds re-seeks his native sky. 285 

The Seer Tolumnias sprang forth to say, 
Whilst shouting crowds all hailed the augury : — 
" It is fulfilled ; our vows accorded are — 
I hail the omen — the Gods grant our prayer. 
I, I your leader — comrades to your brands ; 290 

Chase yon marauding stranger from your lands : 
He who by wrong depopulates your shores 
Shall, like yon baffled bird, take to his oars ; 
He, like yon beaten bird, shall beat retreat 
And o'er expanse of oceans save his fleet. 295 

Now close your ranks, forward unwavering ; 
Strike for your country and defend your King." 

Forward he sprung, and hurled the sounding spear, 
Hissing the corneil flew and cleft the air. 
It flew where haply nine fair brethren stood, 300 

Born of one mother, of Etruscan blood, 
Unto Gylippus of Arcadian strain ; 
Flew fatally and life-blood drank again ; 
Just where the ductile belt the buckle bound, 
One brother in refulgent arms it found 305 

And hurled transfixing on the yellow sand : 
Forth to avenge him sprang the brother band, 
Formed in a phalanx, snatched the weapon near, 
And blindly charged the foe with sword and spear. 
A band Laurentian met them to debar ; 310 

The Trojans, the Agyllans rushed to war ; 

2 a 2 



356 THE iENEIS. Book XII. 

And the Arcadians in their painted arms ; 

And all the rage of war and battle warms. 

The altar is defiled, above it flies 

A storm of missile darts that blur the skies ; 315 

Its fires profaned : — Latimis fled away 

With rescued gods and sacred panoply. 

The warrior's car and the impetuous steed, 

And martial weapons, flashing, them succeed. 

Hating the treaty, forth Messapus springs 320 

Aulestes on, yclad in garb of kings — 
Tuscan Aulestes ; and he, bearing back, 
Stumbled, retreating, 'midst the holy wrack. 
The fierce Messapus smote him with the spear, 
And spoke unto him prostrate with a jeer : — 325 

" Thou hast it ; and thy sacrifice will please 
The Gods above with better flesh than these :" 
The whilst his followers rushed the spoil to seize. 

Then Chorinaeus from his altar snatched 
A smoking brand ; at Ebusus he dashed, 330 

Advancing there, and fired his bushy beard : 
Arose the noisome stench ; with visage bleared 
He tugged the foe, bewildered, by the hair ; 
And thrust him down, and stabbed and slew him there. 

The shepherd Alsus Podalirius viewed 335 

In battle van, and straightway him pursued ; 
Beneath the lifted brand the shepherd swain 
Cleft with preventing axe his head in twain. 
A deep and iron slumber closed his sight, 
And sealed their orbs in an eternal night. 340 



Book XII. THE .^NEIS. 357 

Vainly the good iEneas them withstands 
With unhelmed head, and with imploring hands : — 
" Where do ye rush? what sudden madness this ? 
Untimely wrath, when all concluded is. 
Every condition — mine alone the right — 345 

The righteous cause and the accorded fight ; 
Oh ! to my hand commit the common cause, 
And Turnus doomed to violated laws." 

So spoke he as betwixt the hosts of men 
He rushed : a shaft descending struck him then — 350 
Whose arrow smote him, from whose bow it flew ; 
What God or man or chance 'twas owing to, 
No one disputed, as no one would claim : 
No one aspired unto Kutulian fame. 

But Turnus with reviving soul perceived 355 

iEneas quit the field : himself deceived 
Grasps once again his arms, and mounts his car ; 
Lashes the reins, and dashes into war. 
W T hat warlike hosts before him sunk in death ! 
How many more were crushed his car beneath ; 360 

How many he with spear attained afar. 

On frozen Hebrus so the God of War — 
Mavors implacable ! — uprears his shield, 
Urging his steeds impetuous o'er the field ; 
Notus they beat, and Zephyrus pass by, 365 

And, utmost Thracia trembling, onward hie ; 
Black Fear attendant on their gory path, 
With Ambuscade and never-sparing Wrath : 



358 THE .ENEIS. Book XII. 

So Tunms rushes o'er the battle ground, 

Rejoicing in the misery around. 370 

So speed the sweating horses on their way, 

So blood and spreading dust their path betray. 

Thainyrus, Sthenelus, and Pholus die : 
Slain by the dart, Glaucus and Lades lie, — 
Sons of Imbrasus they, in Lycia bred, 375 

Nurtured in arms. 

Elsewhere Eumecles sped, 
He — heritor of Dolon's race and name — 
Owning his father's valour, grandsire's fame, 
Who erst as spy the Grecian camp explored, 
And asked the car Pelidan for reward ; 380 

Another price Tydides paid his deeds, 
Nor longer sighed he for Achilles' steeds. 
When on the plain lie caught the Daunian glance, 
Him Turnus smote afar with flying lance, 
His biga then arresting on its way ; 385 

And as he drew the fatal steel away, 
" Trojan ! " he said, " the land you sought, behold ! 
Measure the soil Hesperian bought and sold ; 
Such, me confronting, be the lot of all— 
And such the building of the fated wall." 390 

Then Butes, Chloreus, Sybaris, he slew ; 
Dares, Thersilochus, Thymcetes too ; 
Whose courser, stumbling, to the earth him threw : 

So when descending on th' Edonian blast, 
Rough Boreas hath o'er the iEgean passed, 395 



Book XII. THE ^NEIS. 359 

Its roaring waters to the shores are driven, 

And clouds are chased from the expanse of heaven : 

So Turnus on his course victorious drives, 

The foeman shrinks, the hostile rank divides. 

Flutters his crimson crest, as he unreined 400 

Kolls his impetuous course, steeds unrestrained. 

Phegeus beholds him, and with spirit bold 

Grappled the rampant coursers and controlled 

And turned them in the midst of their career. 

On, on they speed together ; but the spear 405 

Of Turnus penetrates his coat of mail, 

Razing the flesh : then turning to assail 

The Daunian under covert of his shield, 

The whirling axle struck him to the field ; 

And Turnus following with unfailing brand 410 

Smote off his head, his trunk rolled on the sand. 

So Turnus triumphed. Whilst with footstep slow 
iEneas, Mnestheus, and Achates go, 
And young Ascanius, to the camp ; the spear 
Propping the faint step of the warrior there. 415 

Snapped was the shaft ; impatiently he tried 
To probe the wound — which all attempts defied — 
To gash it with the sword and give it vent 
From closing flesh whereby the barb was pent ; 
Himself to field uncrippled to restore. 420 

Iasides, medicinal whose lore, 
Hears that his Chieftain needs his healing care ; 
lapis, friend of Phoebus, hurries there. 



360 THE iENEIS. Book XII. 

Phoebus in friendship proffered him unto 

In choice — the Harp, or Augury, or Bow ; 425 

But he, solicitous his sire to save, 

Demanded lore of healing herbs to have ; 

Choosing that silent and inglorious path. 

^Eneas, quivering, stood in silent wrath, 

Propped on his spear : lulus standing by, 4J50 

The tear unbidden dashing from his eye. 

With girded loins, in mode Pseonian, 

The old man with his lenitives began 

And drugs of Phoebus powerful to heal ; 

And then with biting forceps tugged the steel, 435 

But all in vain ; no fortune him attends, 

Nor Phoebus now his votary befriends ; 

The whilst approaching nearer and more near 

The din of battle hurtled on the ear. 

They saw the dust ; they heard the horsemen bawl ; 440 

Within the tented lines the arrows fall ; 

The din of war reverberated high, 

Of those that vanquish and of those that die. 

The Goddess Mother, with impatient grief, 
From Cretan Ida brought the hoped relief — 445 

Dictamnus, plucked from thence, with stem of down 
And crown of purple blossoms ; full well known 
To the wild goat, by hunter's arrow hurt. 
Freighted therewith, with misty cloud begirt, 
Venus descends : the waters of dark hue 450 

And vase she tempered ; adding thereunto 
Sweet panacea and ambrosial dew. 



Book XII. THE JENEIS. 361 

lapis old with these foments again, 

And dissipates at once the pang of pain ; 

Stanches the blood-tide, whilst the barbed steel 455 

Moved upward with a voluntary will — 

And health returned : 

" To battle-field away," 
lapis cried — " his armour why delay ? 
Nor human hand is here, nor mortal cure — 
The Gods, the potent Gods, our Chief restore ! " 460 
./Eneas thrilled impatient to be gone ; 
He shook his spear — they girded armour on. 
Soon as the sword was girded, breastplate hasped, 
With circling arms Ascanius he grasped ; 
And, kissing through the helmet, spoke at last : — 465 

" My boy ! from my example learn to bear 

Suffering and toil ; prosperity elsewhere. 

Accorded 'tis to my right hand once more 

Thee to defend ; but when in years mature 

Thou rul'st, remember ! and in deeds be known, 470 

For Hector's kinsman and iEneas' son." 

iEneas spoke, and issued through the gate, 
Whole in his armour, ardent and elate ; 
Mnestheus and Anteus and a rushing crowd 
Of warriors followed, and their footsteps loud 475 

Shook earth and laid the walls in dust and cloud. 

This Turnus marked — marked the Ausonians too, 
And tremors of cold fears their bones ran through ; 



362 THE JENEIS. Book XII. 

It jarred upon Juturna's prescient ear,— 

She knew the boding sound and fled in fear. 480 

Quickly he comes ; deploying on the plain. 

As when to ravage earth athwart the main 

The tempest rushes, the swain marks the gloom, 

And views with heavy heart the threatened doom, 

The winds precursive rustling on the land. 485 

So the Rhoeteian* leader of the band 

Marshals the field in wedged battalions manned. 

Thyinbrseus slew Osiris, Mnestheus slew 
Archetius, and Achates Epulo, 

And Gyas Ufens. Tolumnius the Seer, 490 

He falls — he falls, who cast the foremost spear. 
The clamour rises, and by turns they fight 
And turn again their dusty backs in flight. 

iEneas spared the flying multitude, 
His spear as yet with slaughter unembrued ; 495 

Turnus alone he sought, and called aloud 
Amidst the battle din and dusty cloud. 
Juturna, starting with instinctive fear, 
Dashed from his seat her brother's charioteer ; 
And as Metiscus she assumed the place, 500 

Alike to him in armour, voice and face ; — 
And like the dusky summer swallow hies 
Through marble courts and painted galleries, 
Through porches high, through portals wide she springs, 
And in pellucid fountains dips her wings, 505 

* iEneas : here called Khoeteius. from the Trojan promontory. 



Book XII. THE ^SNEIS. 363 

Collecting her small food for noisy young, — 

So, even so, Juturna flits among 

Banks hostile, guides her brother's conquering car 

And him exultant from iEneas far. 

And he, iEneas, as assiduously, 510 

Followed and viewed the rapid car flit by. 

In vain he followed, and he called in vain ; 

Juturna heard, and scudded o'er the plain. 

What should he do ? within his wearied breast 

How much of cares conflicting him distressed ! 515 

Messapus thither came ; two spears he held 

When he the prince, so unresolved, beheld. 

One, with an aim assured, Messapus cast — 

iEneas stooped beneath his shield ; it passed, 

But razed the helm and bore away the crest. 520 

Then indignation boil'd up unrepressed, — 

The wiles of Turnus, he beholds, and flight : 

Jove he attests, and the polluted rite ; 

Then to propitious Mars he yields the rein, 

And breathing slaughter, runs to war again. 525 

What God will aid me now to chant the strife 
Of human passions and of wasted life ; 
The death of warriors ; varied fate of war : 
Now Turnus, now iEneas, conqueror. 
Jupiter, was it thy will to seal 530 

Our league eternal with such mortal ill ? 

Kutulian Sucro met iEneas fain, 
And died a speedy death on battle plain. 



364 THE ^NEIS. Book XII. 

Through ribs and spine, reduplicated wound, 

The sword, unseating life, its passage found. 535 

Whilst Turnus slew two brethren : from his steed 

Fell Amycus — on foot Diores bled ; 

Their amputated heads, all dripping gore, 

The victor's Daunian car suspended bore. 

Talon, Tanais, and Cethegus die ; 540 

And sad Onythes falls, iEneas by, — 
Sprung of Echion's line Peridian. 
Then Turnus slew two brothers Lycian 
From Apollonian fields : another one 
Menoetes, war averse ; a fisher, won 545 

From Lerna's waters, where his sire found 
An humble competence from rented ground. 

As flames devouring seize upon the brake, 
And, raging indiscriminately, make 
The living laurels and dry scrub their prey ; 550 

As rivers that precipitate their way 
Koaring and foaming to their bourn, the sea ; 
So rushed the chieftains recklessly and free, 
With wrathful passions, spirits rage-impellecl, 
And slaughtering arms, un conquered and unquelled. 555 

Murranus of high titles, proud to trace 
His Latin ancestry and royal race, 
JEneas with a rocky fragment struck. 
Forward he falls, beneath the chariot yoke 
His frighted horses spurned their fallen lord, 5 GO 

And his own wheels the fatal blow afford. 



Book XII. THE ^ENEIS. 365 

Turnus met Hyllus, onward as he rolled, 

And launched the spear against the helm of gold, 

The iron head transpierced the golden mail. 

Neither, Creteus ! did thine arms avail : 565 

Mightiest of Greeks ! thee, too, did Turnus slay. 
Nor did his Gods, Cupentus save that day 
iEneas from — nor brazen arms afford 
A fence availing from the iEneian sword. 
And ^Eolus to thee too fatal were 570 

The fields Laurentian : 'scaped the Grecian spear, 
Achilles, and the Argive phalanxes, 
Here is thy final bourn : — thy palaces 
Ida beneath, and in Lyrnessus, were ; 
Laurentian soil yielded thy sepulchre. 575 

So strive the Dardan and the Latin mio-ht : 
Mnestheus, Serestus, and Asylus fight ; 
Messapus, steed-subduer, foremost springs, 
And Tuscan phalanx meets Arcadian wings : 
All, all indomitably fight, none yield ; 580 

Nor rest nor respite ; such the battle-field. 

Now loveliest Yenus, prompting, instigates 
iEneas to assault the Latin gates. 
He, as he cast his eyes, which wearied were, 
O'er field of battle — seeking Turnus there — 585 

Eested and riveted upon the town. 
Then flashed that mightier project him upon. 
Mnestheus, Serestes and Sergestus good 
He hailed, and, followed bv a multitude, 



366 THE iENEIS. Book XII. 

Mounted a tumulus and them addressed. 590 

And thither other Trojans rallying pressed 
The agger round ; with sword and shield in hand 
The warriors congregate, and listening stand : 

" Lest ye should dally, where ye must obey, 
'Tis Jove that prompts that which brooks no delay. 595 
Yon faithless city and yon Latin reign, 
Unless they yield and bear the conquering rein, 
This day we overthrow : yon cause of war, 
In smoking ruins, shall offend no more. 
Say, must we wait and wait till Turnus choose 600 

The combat to accept or to refuse ? m 

No, comrades, no ! from yonder head, require 
The broken treaty with re-lighted pyre," 
iEneas said — and the words response found 
In every Trojan heart and soul around. 605 

Straightway in wedge they formed and stormed the 
The scaling-ladders rise, the firebrands fall ; [wall. 

They seize the gates, those that they meet they slay ; 
Shafts fly, steel flashes, smoke obscures the day, 
Beneath the city walls iEneas stands ; 610 

And, raising upon high attesting hands, 
He instances the breach of treaties twain, 
And war renewed and the Italian stain ; 
Condemns Latinus, and on his head lays 
Ensuing evils — pending miseries. 615 

Then discord amidst citizens arose ; 
Then some would open, and admit their foes, 



Book XII. THE ^NEIS. 367 

Others, to drag their king to parley ran, 
And others rushed the battlements to man. 

Thus, thus in pumice labyrinths we see 620 

The husbandman assail the honey-bee. 
He pours in bitter smoke ; the swarm within 
The waxen citadel upraise a din, 
Bat low and low the murmurings, or ere 
The conquering fume self-dissipates in air. 625 

But woe, more woe, the Latin town attends, 
In misery the city bows and bends. 
The Queen, the Latin Queen, beheld the foe 
Approach the walls, and flakes of fire below ; 
And — neither Turnus, troops Kutulian nor — 630 

Concludes, unhappy, him as slain in war. 
Herself accusing as the source of all 
These added miseries ; — untied her pall, 
Her pall of purple madly she untied, 
And fastened high — by her own hand she died. 635 

Her child Lavinia tore her auburn hair, 
And cheeks of rose now pallid with despair : 
The Latin matrons listened to the tale, 
And rushed and raised on high the funeral wail : 
Then fame it promulgated far and wide, 640 

And as it sped man's inward spirit died. 

Latinus, with rent regal garments, goes 
Confounded at his own and country's woes : 
Dust, dust he scatters locks of grey upon, 
And self-accusing, utters, tottering on, 645 

" Dardan iEiieas should have been his son." 



368 THE ^NEIS. Book XII. 

Turnus meantime, where all unto him yield, 
Now gleaned the scattered remnants of the field. 
Joyless he fought, his courser's pace waxed slow, 
Then did he hear the distant murmuring grow 650 

A mournful and a boding sound of doom. 
" What woe-fraught clamour hither speeds ; from whom ? " 
He said, aucl laid his hands upon the reins. 
His charioteer — she who the part sustains 
Metiscus of — with baffling speech replied : 055 

" Here, Turnus, let us follow on this side 
Where victory first alighting did befriend — 
Others there be whose hands the towers defend ; 
iEneas charges there the Italian band, 
Let them the charge sustain. Your slaughtering hand 660 
Against the Trojans urge as heretofore, 
In glory equal and in slaughters more." 

Turnus replied : " Sister ! it is thou ; 
I partly guessed before ; I know thee now, 
Goddess altho' thou be : but art thou come, 665 

To share a brother's doom, Olympus from ? 
Com'st thou- discomfiture and death to see, 
For fortune only threatens misery ? 
Did not these eyes behold Murranus fall, 
And hear his voice, he best beloved of all ; 670 

Did I not unavenging see him die, 
And Ufens fall, accusing infamy, 
And Trojans bear his corpse and arms away. 
Now must I see the city fall their prey, 



Book XII. THE ^ENEIS. 369 

Our homesteads razed ; must I see this, and hear 675 

Drances reproach, and his reproaches bear. 

Or shall I flee — shall Latins see me flee — 

Is flight than death a worse calamity ? 

Ye, ye Manes ! — Gods of heaven averse — 

Be ye propitious — add not to my curse ; 680 

Of crime unconscious, in integrity 

Let me descend, ancestral Shades, to ye." 

Scarce had he spoken when with thundering pace 
Sages rode up, an arrow in his face ; 
He rushed imploring Turnus by his name : 685 

" Thou Turnus, our chief hope, thy aid we claim. 
iEneas in his might the town assails, 
And threatening storm and sack his arm prevails. 
Already on our roofs the firebrands fall ; 
All eyes are turned to thee, on thee men call : 690 

Latinus wavers ; ready to reject, 
Nor knows which son or treaty to accept. 
The Queen is dead — thy best friend is no more — 
By her own hand she treads the silent shore. 
Messapus and Atinas man the gate, 695 

Where conquering phalanxes now aggregate 
With swords that flash as thick as standing corn ; 
Whilst thou, o'er distant desert plains, art borne." 

Bewildered and enraged the warrior stood ; 
The flitting images half understood : 700 

A sense of shame boiled in his inmost breast, 
With mournful sorrow, passion with oppressed, 
Love unrequited, conscious worth impressed. 

2 B 



370 THE JSNEIS. Book XII. 

Soon as the congregated cloud passed by, 

And light returned, he raised his sight on high ; 705 

And looking from his biga's height beheld 

The flames arise, which a huge turret felled, — ■ 

A mighty outwork by himself designed, 

And built with wheels and bridges ; to the wind 

And eddying flames, which, lashing to the skies, 710 

Fed on its beams and boarded galleries. 

" The Fates, my sister, call ; o'ercome by whom, 
Cease, cease I pray thee to defer the doom. 
Where Fate and where hard Fortune call, I go. 
I am prepared — iEneas is my foe : 715 

I am resolved, my sister, to endure 
My lot to death — nor flee, inglorious more." 

He said, and leaping from the chariot, left 

The goddess grieving, as he onward swept 

And carved a bloody passage thro' the foe : 720 

So from the weather-worn and craggy brow 

Of some huge precipice, by storms cast down, 

By waters sapped or carking years o'erthrown, 

The mass of rock dislodged, clown, downwards borne, 

It bounds, it leaps, exultant, — cattle, corn, 725 

The forest, man, swooping with it along ; 

So Turnus scattered the opposing throng, 

Seeking the city, where beneath the gates 

The soil drank blood and air reverberates 

The hurtling spears. 

With voice and gesture proud 730 

He separated the contending crowd : 



Book XII. THE ^XEIS. 371 

" Eutulians, cease — Latins, your arms suspend ; 

Whatever betide, I must the contest end. 

And right, and just, and fitting 'tis that I 

Should close the fight, treaty me broken by, 735 

Assert your cause and singly meet my doom." 

Assenting legions heard and gave him room. 

Father iEneas heard their shouts arise, 
And " Turnus ! Turnus ! " echoed to the skies. 
He quits the walls, he quits the towery height, 740 

And thrills exulting, confident in might : 
So Athos, or so Eryx shows, or he 
Our Father Apennine, in majesty, 
When amidst ilex shade he stalks below, 
Or rears aloft his summit crowned with snow. 745 

Stayed the Eutulian arm, the Trojan stayed ; 
All eyes are turned, hostilities delayed ; 
The brave defendants on the ramparts breathe. 
Assailants and the thundering ram beneath. 
Latinus only rested not ; amazed 750 

Upon the sight below, in marvel gazed : 
From distant different realms two warriors stood, 
To arbitrate disputed rights in blood. 
And they, upon the broad vacated space 
Approaching rapidly, met face to face : [755 

Launched are their spears, the brazen shields resound : 
Earth groans the while the flashing swords rebound : 
Yalour and Fortune strive, the issue they confound. 

So, in great Sila's or Taburnan field, 
Eush to the fight the monarchs of the weald. 7G0 

2 b 2 



372 THE ^NEIS. Book XII. 

They meet, and flees afar the frighted swain ; 

They meet, the lowing heifers on the plain 

Wait to submit unto the future lord, 

The whilst they battle : sides and dewlaps gored, 

Polluted, still they bathe in mutual blood, 765 

And fill with clamour the resounding wood ; 

Thus, even thus, the Daunian hero and 

Dardan iEneas battle hand to hand. 

Now Jupiter the equal balance holds, 
With fates of each, imposing in its bowls : 770 

Labours, and death impending, he unfolds. 

Turnus sprang forth, at vantage took his foe 
And struck the first : the Latins hailed the blow, 
And Trojans feared the issue ; but the sword 
Broke at the haft, perfidious to its lord. 775 

Disarmed he stands, now must he flee or die : 
Swifter than Eurus stooping doth he fly, 
An unknown handle in his disarmed hand. 

Fame saith, that Turnus left the Daunian brand, 
His own paternal weapon in his hall ; 780 

And snatched in inadvertence from the wall 
That of Metiscus ; wholly, wholly vain 
And valueless 'gainst arms Vulcanian: 
Shivered the mortal-manufactured brand 
Like brittle glass, and strewed the yellow sand. 785 

Lo ! Turnus flees ; each varying shift he tries : 
Now here, now there, with baffling circuit hies. 



Book XII. THE ^BNEIS. 373 

For here a ring of Trojan troops enclosed ; 

A marsh lay there, and there the walls opposed. 

iEneas followed, and pursued his foe 790 

With fervent spirit, but with footstep slow, 

Clogged and impeded by the recent wound. 

As when the huntsman and the baying hound 

Have overta'en and brought the stag to bay, 

The stream within or feathers bar the way ; 795 

Baffled by banks, or scared by scarlet toils, 

He still by doubling and redoubling foils ; 

But the staunch Umbrian hound is close behind, 

He snaps his sounding fangs, he bites the wind ; 

The swift and wary trembler 'scapes once more, 800 

And horn and hound re-echo as before. 

So Turnus flees ; and fleeing, calls by name 

Each known Kutulian, loading them with blame ; 

And raving for his sword, howbeit they fear 

The consequence : iEneas threats whoe'er 805 

Presumes to interpose with instant death, 

And vows to raze the city from the heath ; 

Five times the circuit of the ground they made, 

'Twas for no common prize or game they played — 

The fate of Turnus on the issue laid. 810 

To Faunus sacred, once an olive stood, 
By mariners a venerated wood, 
Who, shipwrecked, here repaired, and gifts bestowed, 
And dedicated garments which they owed. 
Unconscious of its sanctity, that tree 815 

The Trojans felled, the battle-field to free. 



374 THE ^ENEIS. Book XII. 

Propped on his spear thither iEneas past ; 

The rugged root it caught, and held it fast. 

In vain he bent, and tugged, and strove to free, 

No force it seemed might win it from that tree. 820 

Then Turnus breathed a short and hurried prayer : 

" Faunus and mother Earth, hold fast the spear ; 

If I have ever honoured this thy shrine, 

Whilst they polluted have thy shades divine." 

So Turnus prayed, nor prayed an useless prayer, — 825 

Faunus divine and Earth held fast the spear ; 

No strength, Dardanides, may set it free, 

Nor liberate from that tenacious tree. 

Again the Daunian Goddess lent her aid ; 
.Metiscus' form concealed the warrior maid, 830 

Bushed to her brother's rescue, and restored 
The brand parental, the true Daunian sword. 

Venus, indignant that the nymph should dare, 
Descended and redeemed the captive spear. 

The Daunian brand and Trojan spear opposed, 835 
Once more in breathless strife the warriors closed. 

Now Jove Omnipotent, Olympus on, 
Addressing Juno, her gold cloud upon, 
From whence she gazed and viewed the battle-field. 
•''When wilt thou cease? wife, when wilt thou 
yield ? 840 

Thou knowest well the fates a seat will claim 
iEneas for, within our starry frame. 
Then, what dost thou devise ? what hope detains 
Thee, thus on gelid clouds, o'er mortal plains ? 



Book XII. THE .32NEIS. 375 

Say, ought a god by mortal steel to bleed — 845 

Say was it right — for, Goddess, 'twas thy deed — 

Say was it right to give the vanquished aid, 

Or by the sword restored, is fate delayed ? 

Now end the conflict, yield thee to our prayers, 

Harbour no more these griefs and carking cares, 850 

Too often noted by me, on thy brow : 

For to its bourn Fate touches even now. 

The Trojans, chased alike by land and sea, 

And wars relighted, house defiled by thee, 

And Hynienseals changed to funeral wails. 855 

Enough — inexorable Fate prevails ! 

Further attempt I bar." 

So Jove, and so 
Saturnia answered, with brow bended low : 
" Because that I, mightiest, know thy will, 
Thus seated am, on cloud aerial, 860 

With patience things unworthy suffering ; 
Turnus, Italia, Earth, abandoning : 
But, but for that, environed with flame, 
Troy would I give again to death and shame. 

Yes, I confess my admonitions made 865 

Juturna carry her poor brother aid, 
To save his life, no more ; but not to throw 
The mortal javelin or bend the bow. 
By Styx, his fountain head, do I swear this, 
Sole invocation that all binding is : 870 

But now I yield and hate yon battle strife. 

thou ! by Fate unshackled, I — your wife — 



376 THE ^NEIS. Book XII. 

For Latium, thine own Latium, now implore : 

When hymenseals blessed peace restore, 

When laws and treaties make them both the same, 875 

Change not the old and honoured Latin name ; 

Let them not Trojans be, nor so addressed ; 

Unchanged their tongue, unchanged the togaed vest ; 

Be Latium, Latium ; Kings Albanan reign, 

And Koinans spring from the Italian strain ; ' 880 

All, save what is indigenous, destroy ; 

And Troy no more — blot out the name of Troy." 

Jove smiled on her as he reply began, 
" Sister of Jove, offspring Saturnian, 
Doth mortal passion harbour in thy breast? 885 

Oh ! mitigate that source of all unrest. 
Have this that thou desirest ; freely know 
Jove yields to thee, what else he would bestow. 
Let the Ausonians speech and garb retain, 
And as it is, so let their name remain : 890 

Therein commingled be the Teucrian fame, 
And rites and ceremonials be the same. 
Efface, will I, all save the Latin tongue : 
And thence, of mingled race, a people sprung 
Equal to gods on high, in piety 895 

Shall rear the votive shrine and worship thee." 

Saturnia bowed : soothed was her spirit proud : 
Re-entering heaven, abandoning the cloud. 

That done, the King of Heaven meditates 
To drive Juturna from her brother's fates. 900 



Book XII. THE ^NEIS. 377 

Twin pests there are — Night, Hades in forlorn, 

Megaera with, in double labour born — 

Diraa surnamed : begirt with Stygian snakes 

And wings parental : by celestial gates 

On Jove attendant, ministers of wrath — 905 

When he, dispensing justice, o'er the path 

Of mortals scatters plague, disease and war. 

Of these one, issuing forth the hand to bar 

Juturna of, from Jupiter descends ; 

On sombre wing she stoops, and downward tends, 910 

Swift as the barb-envenomed arrow flies 

From Parthian or, Cydonian enemies, 

Unseen and unexpected, smiting still 

With rooted, deep, immedicable ill. 

So silently the child of Night descends, 915 

And to the battle-field her course she wends ; 

Her form contracting to that lesser bird 

Which from some roof or sepulchre is heard 

Screeching through silence and the dead of night : 

So metamorphosed takes the Pest her flight, 920 

Bound Turnus flits with verberating wing, — 

New fears assail him, and new torpors cling ; 

Deep in his throat the sob unutterecl dies, 

And o'er his brow the bristling locks arise. 

The whizzing of the wing Juturna heard, 925 

And recognised the Dira in the bird : 
She beat her bosom, and her locks she tore ; 
"Turnus," she cried, "thy sister aids no more : 



378 THE ^NEIS. Book XII. 

What art have I, or power to defend, 

Or with a monster like to this contend ? 930 

I know their purpose, and I quit this scene. 

Cease, cease to fright me thus, ye birds obscene ! 

I know thy mandates harsh, imperious Jove ! 

Is this the guerdon for thy lawless love ? 

What boots eternal life ? the friendlier tomb 935 

Would place a bourn to suffering and to doom ; 

Would that I mortal were, a Shade to go, 

By brother's Shade accompanied, below. 

Yawn, yawn, thou hollow earth, and by his side, 

A Goddess, let me to the Manes glide." 940 

Groaning, in mantle green she veiled her head, 
And plunged — the closing waters o'er her spread. 

iEneas vibrated his weighty spear, 
And sternly said, "Tunms, confront me here; 
Fleetness of foot will not for aye avail; 945 

Valor and martial worth at length prevail. 
Wouldst thou avoid the battle, choose thy shape, 
And take the chosen form, thou shouldst not 'scape. 
Soar thou in air or hide thee in the earth, [950 

Thence would I drag thee out and bring thee forth." 

But Turnus shook his head, as he replied : 
" Proud foe, by thee I am not terrified ; 
Me, Gods adverse and Jupiter affright." 
He said no more : a rock lay within sight, 
A square and antique block — it marked the bounds 955 
Of divers properties and neighbouring grounds ; 



Book XII. THE iENEIS. 379 

Twelve men perchance 'twould take such stone to 

raise, 
Degenerated men of latter days. 
With quivering hands he raised it up to throw, 
And, summoning his vigour, sought the foe. 960 

In vain ! no reirmant rests of strength of old ; 
His knees betray him, and his blood runs cold ; 
Reft of due impulse, dropped the mighty mass. 

In dead of night, thus mortal visions pass, 
When fitful slumbers close o'er-wearied eyes ; 965 

Fain would we run, but fall and cannot rise ; 
Fain would we call for aid, in vain we try ; 
Voiceless and struggling, powerless we lie. 
So Turnus fares: where'er he turns his eyes 
The Goddess Dira flits, and all success denies. 970 

Then troubling thoughts his troubled soul appal ; 
He looks to the Eutulians, to the wall, 
Wrestles with his misgivings, but nor knows 
How to escape his lot or how oppose. 
No friendly chariot, sister charioteer ; 975 

But stern iEneas and the fatal spear, 
Fated and fortunate, about to throw 
On an irresolute resistless foe. 

Like to a rock from mural engine flung, 
Like to the bursting thunder, clouds among, 980 

Like the black whirlwind's unresisted sway, 
The death-fraught weapon fled and sped its way 



380 THE .ZENEIS. Book XII. 

Through the last orbit of the sevenfold shield, 

And through the corslet's appendage it held 

The thigh transfixing ; doubled by the wound 985 

Huge Turnus dropped, his knee upon, to ground. 

The groan Eutulian echoed far and wide,* 

The mountains round and the deep woods replied. 

Humbled and suppliant as he knelt he prayed, 
And, with his vanquished hand held forth, he said : 990 
" It is my due, and I deny it not, 
Neither lament ; enjoy thy happier lot. 
Yet if parental misery may move, 
Eemembering Anchises and his love, 
Think upon Daunus, and remit thine ire ; 995 

Eestore me or my body to my sire. 
Conquered thou hast, and the Ausonians view 
My suppliant hands ; conquer thy passion too ; 
Lavinia thine." 

iEneas stayed his hand, 
With eyeballs flashing sternly did he stand, 1000 

Whilst through his breast remorseful pity ran ; 
When, on the shoulders of the fated man 
He saw the belt — with amulets * thereon 
Of Pallas ; fatal spoil, by Turnus won 
From the boy Pallas — from his body torn 1005 

The golden ensign now by Turnus borne. 
This monument of bitter grief he viewed, 
Whilst wrath subsiding speedily renewed : 

* The Bullae or amulets worn by boys until the age of seventeen. 



Book XII. THE jENEIS. 381 

With furv fraught — " Dost thou beseech ? " he said. 

" Thou clad in spoil of Pallas — of the dead ? 1010 

This blow for him — thus Pallas immolates 

Thy forfeit blood to the avenging fates." 

He said, and in his bosom struck the blow ; 

To earth the body sunk in death's last throe ; 

The soul indignant fled and sought the shades below. 



Kotes. 



NOTES. 



On land Italian at Lavinum's shore. — Bk. i. 1. 3. 

Sir George Cornewall Lewis, in his ' Credibility of Roman His- 
tory,' reviews the twenty-five legends of the foundation of Rome, 
and the nine of the foundation of Capua. 

That profound critic (honour to his memory!) sums up his 
opinion upon them in these sentences : — " All mythologic fictions or 
etymological guesses, all equally fictitious, no grain of corn in the 
chaff, not a trace of solid or substantial fact. The discussion idle 
and insoluble, the materials for a discussion do not exist." — p. 405. 

Against this sweeping opinion of Sir George it may justly be 
objected that there is not an eponymous hero slain, or preserved, 
who finds not some tangible monument of his name recorded ; as, 
for instances, the tumulus and tomb of Mezentius on the river 
Numicius, and those of Misenus and Palinurus on their respective 
capes ; we learn that the traces of Ulysses were more numerous than 
those of iEneas in Latium (p. 327), whilst we meet also those of 
Polites, Diomedes, Antenor, and others, showing indisputably that 
some phase of pagan worship had passed by and left its indelible 
mark upon the spot ; and was remembered in legend with love or 
hatred, as the records had handed it down as beneficent or malignant 
to man. 

The two great and main phases of paganism which have passed 
over the face of the world are Solar and Lunar rites ; the former 
conjoined with human sacrifice, and the latter with sanctuary and 
expiatory sacrifice. 

These two phases appear never to have amalgamated, although 
the conjunction of the twain appears to have been the constant desire 
of their votaries. The discordant occupations and physical predi- 
lections of either may have prevented amalgamation. 



384 NOTES TO THE ^NEIS. 

The solar worshippers were mainly shepherds and merchantmen ; 
nomads "by sea and land ; and holding fortresses such as Tyre and 
Sidon, an Alcathoe, or a Mount St. Michael. The lunar were 
tillers of the soil. Their symbols were different, from the blagk or 
punicean purple of the solar to the white of the lunar. Their build- 
ings were diverse — the pyramidal (fastigium) of the solar, to the 
dome (tholus) of the lunar. Their manners were different ; those of 
the solar and sacrificial appearing to have been as grand and decent 
as they were heart-rending and inexorable ; whilst the lunar devolved 
into the basest debauchery and mysteries wherewith to clothe it. 
It appears that the solar fanes were called Taurs or Tors, and 
the lunar were the Chomoth of holy writ and the Koma of the 
Greek and Latin tongue ; from whence probably are deduced the 
two Choirs and their Odes which have descended to us in the words 
Tragedy and Comedy. The bale of fire was lighted on the Taur, 
the Chomah covered its crypt and vestal flame and mysteries. In 
holy writ we find the word Chomah conjoined with sacrifice, for its 
root in Hebrew deduces from Chom, the sun, heat, and fire ; so 
Semele consumed and Bacchus was saved in the crypt; and 
round that mound and crypt passed the Comic choir, ultimately 
degraded to a phallic procession. Still it was the solar rites of 
Baalim which left the indelible mark of hatred behind ; and the 
mysteries of Ceres and Bacchus, into which those of Astarte devolved, 
received no check from the populace until the demoralization they 
wrought worked its own cure in the ruin of its votaries ; when the 
debilitated races fell to the assault of sterner " barbarians." 

Greece first supplied us with a written tongue, and through Greece 
we receive the legends of the world : but unhappily where the 
legendary stream becomes navigable in written characters, it also grows 
so turbid and polluted that the truth must be deduced from these 
records, and sought higher up in purer fountains and verbal legends ; 
for assuredly they, the Greeks, knew not the truth of the lore they 
have transmitted to us, whilst their vanity caused them to assign 
to their own lands those legends which belonged to others ; and their 
frivolity of disposition caused them to brutify, or to render absurd, 
the myths they professed to believe. 

Sophocles has recorded the pagan myths in their religious garb, 



NOTES TO THE MKEIS. 385 

and Aristophanes has shown how they were received by the 
Athenian population. Greece supplies us with mythologic facts and 
legends ; but we ourselves must apply them if we wish to discover 
the pagan phase which created them. 

Who then were the iEneadse and iEneas ? They were fountain 
worshippers, and retained the symbol of solar fire in cryptish and 
vestal flame ; it was guarded beneath the tholus or lunar dome : he 
had no Sandalon, mound or solar symbol, and his sacrifice was the 
lunar sow or pig. He was named Indiges, of which word Index 
appears to have been made the nominative case ; and Battus, who 
was a party-coloured stone, affording sanctuary without power to 
enforce it, was named Index — equally contemptible at Cyrene, or 
in the sanctuary Isle of Malta, where he was king. As iEneas 
walks without sandalons, so Lavinia, as also Hersilia, have their 
coma or hair burnt off. Dido also took off one sandal at her sacrifice, 
equivalent in that to Jason, who lost one in the river Anaurus. It 
is stated that iEneas brought no images to Italy, only the vestal fire. 
The tumulus or solar mound appears to have been hateful to the 
fountain worshippers ; and Indiges, or the stone cippus, to have been 
raised in its stead. 

The etymologies of Anchises, iEneas, and Ascanius, all involve 
the oriental roots of am, fountain, and ash or esh, fire. Following his 
course of wandering, we find him descend from many-fountained Ida, 
mother of (Enone, and refuge at Antandros ; he sails to Thrace and 
founds iEnos ; he finds his next friends at Andros, and King Anius, 
whose daughters were turned to milk-white doves of Yenus or the 
moon ; Helenus, whose mythology is confused with that of Antenor 
and Andromache ; and Diomed, who as OEnides shows another 
Grecian perversion, the Oriental ain turned into the Oinos, wine and 
vine, and its series of perversions of G^neus and the sow ; and so 
Diomed OEnides befriends iEneas also. Taking a yet more general 
view of this root : — 

iEnea was the port of Athos the divine; encircled by its waters. 

(Enone was betrayed by Paris ; or the sun. 

John baptized at iEnon, for there was much water ; 

So iEneas and Antenor are variously shown as allies and as 
traitors to Priam and Troy. 

2 c 



386 NOTES TO THE ^NEIS. 5 

The mythic Trojan war had swept away most of the eponymous 
heroes representing the past phases of paganism, the Jasonia had 
even disappeared earlier, but the Memnonia, the Achillea, and the 
Ajaces, are all condemned and slain in the persons of Achilles, 
Pyrrhus, Memnon, Sarpedon, Glaucus, Pandarus, and Patroclus, 
on the Grecian side ; whilst old Priam, Paris, Hector, Deiphobus, 
and Rhesus fall on the part of Panoniphasan Troy, where Hecuba 
and all her daughters perished likewise. 

Nothing can more uphold the broad feature of etymology than the 
race of Pols, especially devoted to destruction: Polites, Polydorus, 
Polyxena, Polymnestor, Polyphemus, Pollux, Polydaamon, Polydector, 
Polypemon, Polydora, Polenor, Polydamas, and many more ; in fact, 
all perish — two have their eyes put out, Polymnestor and Polyphemus, 
whilst Polyxo hangs Helen to revenge the death of Tlepolemus. This 
fiery particle finds two instances in the iEneid, as Pallas and 
Palinurus ; for the fiery principle followed to Latium, in the eastern 
Pali, shepherds and fire- worshippers. 

Another eponymous pair, Misenus and Mezentius — Contemptores 
Divum — are weeded out ; they appear to bear the title Mis, from a 
base lunar worship. We find the root in Misra in Egypt, moon and 
sun ; where Menes is written Misor, Misra, and Menai (Cory's 
'Fragments'); in the hill Misar — conjoined with Hermon in the 
psalms ; the mountains of Mis or the moon whereon St. Patrick, 
serving Milcho as swineherd, was converted ; and in Mis Tor, the 
companion of Yes Tor ; and Hessary and Missary Tors, on Dartmoor, 
respectively sun and moon ; as in Assoros and Missare, the primeval 
pair of Assyria (Rawl. ' Herod. :' and Cory, p. 318). 

And so in Britain, we have the island sanctuaries of Mona, 
Man, and Menai; and in Caithness a huge tract of bog called 
Reay, or Min-re, and termed the Moon, and affording sanctuary. 
(Camden, iv. p. 197). 

To revert to iEneas. As a watery principle it is consistent that 
he bore the wooden image representing Anchises on his shoulders, it 
floated like the stone coffin of St. Cuthbert down the Till and Tweed 
in our legends. His wife Creusa and his lover Elyssa appear both to 
be synonyms of the Isle of the Sun, Re and El and Usa : but his 
destiny is to be refuged on the Lavinian shore of Italy, and to wed 



NOTES TO THE ^NEIS. 387 

Lavinia the eponymous daughter of Latinus; the cryptish solar 
worship, and Amata, Hamath, land of the sun. 

Lavinia, like Hersilia, has her coma or hair divinely burnt off; i. e., 
the chomoth, mounds raised to solar worship and human sacrifice, as 
thechomahof Kir Heres, sun or destruction, where Mesha the Moabite 
sacrificed his eldest son ; and the chomah of Beth San, the house of 
the sun, where the Cuthites nailed the body of Saul, and which root 
we can trace in Eresburg, Harsburg, or Saturburgh, where the like 
rites were performed to Odin, and which methinks finds its congener 
in Etruria at Csere, and its grove and old Pelasgic rites to Sylvanus 
(iEneid, viii. 1. 600) ; and where the vestal fire found refuge when 
the capitol was taken by the Gauls ; all these solar attributes are 
to be got rid of for the lunar principle of fountain-worship, such 
as we find prevalent at Rome, as Juturna, Carmenta, Egeria, Anna 
Perenna, Janus, Picus and Faunus, and many more. 

Now if iEneas had landed in Cornwall at its extremity, he would 
have fallen upon St. Leven and his well, whose pathway to the sea 
is unobliterated, and whose Christian church, filled with symbolic 
carvings, still holds the place of the pagan mound it succeeded to. 
Leven, Lavinumand Lavinia are variations of the Avon — in Eastern 
roots, aiib or auv, and on, the solar fountain. On, or Heliopolis of 
Egypt, and the bar of Damascus were so called ; and the Beth Avens 
of Scripture are numerous but deeply condemned as idolatrous ; the 
mounds are called the Bomoi On in the Septuagint, and it is averred 
that they shall be destroyed, as we see them burnt off our Lavinia. 

It is thought and held by Camden that the word Avon is a British 
word, simply signifying water ; but we find the Evenus in Homer 
and Hesiod, — 

" Parthenius and Evenus, streams of fame," 

like Pharpar and Abana of Damascus : the Evenus with its Dracon- 
tium, where Medea passed fleeing from Corinth to Athens, and 
the Evenus of Nessus, Dejanira, and Hercules. At the Dracontium 
of Camac in Brittany flows an Avon river ; on the Avons of Palestine 
there were also cromlechs and vibrating logan-stones, as may be 
found in Bochartus (i. 707), an unwilling or rather an in credulous 
witness of the fact he records and, unlike to him, derides. 

2 C 2 



388 NOTES TO THE JENEIS. 

The word Avon is world-wide, and is everywhere conjoined with 
Magi attributes and solar rites. In Our own land, over which the British 
tongue even now does not hold undisputed sway, we have Avon 
rivers from the north of Scotland to the south of England, and from 
Ireland and Wales to the Kentish Stour, which was of old an Avon, 
and where the boulder rocks of the Magi still mark its sources by 
Charing in abundance. To this sanctuary principle of the waters, 
dedicated to the sun, the Auv-on, must we refer our own St. Leven 
and the Latin Lavinum and Lavinia. 

The rivers Ehe and Avons are solar etymons. We have our 
Levens also in Scotland, and the rivers Ehenus and Levinus of 
Modena have a further historic fame, for on an isle in the Levinus 
Antony and Lepidus held a conference. The two roots, ain and aub, 
appear to be conjoined in the town of Hieracoma by Antioch, which 
is named Ain-t-aub, and famed for its prophetic powers. The 
syllable ain has its congeners in Britain, in St. Keyne, St. Teyne, 
St. Cynan, and in our Queynton, Keinton, and Queen Camels. 

In Italy she is further represented by Canens. The syllable tfauh 
devolved to signify serpent, and sibyl, and also Ph'aub, Phoebus. 
And so we have the fountain Fovant beneath the pagan fane of 
Chesil or Orion in Wiltshire. 

Now, the rivers dedicated to the Solar orb, by the Magi, were 
mostly intermittent springs. The Numicus Corniger is intermittent 
where iEneas landed, and where he walked unsandalled with Achates 
when he met Anna Perenna, who became the nymph of that " Nail- 
bourne," as we should term it in Kent ; or " Winterbourne," which 
would be its Wiltshire denomination ; and which accounts for the 
difficulty of discovering these sacred streams. Such were the Triton 
of the Hill of the Graces in Africa; the Thermodon of Bceotia; the 
A cis and Amymone ; the Inachus of Argos, with "his secret urn," 
&c. Such intermittent fountains shared with the saline, sulphurous, 
and hot waters, the worship of these Magi or Druids. These waters 
have mounds attached, which are the sandalons, the horns, which 
we find lost, deposed, and broken off, by Jason, Achelous, Capella, 
and iEneas ; so Dido walked like Jason with one ; so the Amazons 
cut off one " tithos," or breast, to use freely their arrows or bonfire 
rays. One horn of Corniger Numicus was probably the same as was 



NOTES TO THE yENEIS. 389 

called the tomb of Mezentins, " cadit ingens Mezentius," by the hand 
of the imsandalled iEneas (' Fasti,' iv. 896). These terms refer to 
the Solar tumulus, or Taur, which were baneful under races who 
worshipped them in pairs and became benignant under races who 
worshipped with only one. 

The eldest son of iEneas and Lavinia was Maylles, his daughter 
^Emilia, the anagram, as Sir George Lewis suggests, of Maylles. 
He had also sons Romulus and Eemus ; whilst Roma was daughter 
of Ascanius. He had another son, Eurytion, by Creusa ; from whom 
Virgil probably drew Euryalus, grandson of Priam. 

Our three principal river Avons all rise in an ancient forest, the 
forests of Savenach, Braden, and Arden ; Arden who was prophetic, 
as Drayton sings, — 

" Which saw did first arise 
From Arden, in those days delivering prophecies." 

But the name of Avon fails us in our holiest stream, which is the 
Kennet. The Gadbourne and the Ogbourne, intermittent floods, 
enclose the sacred plains of Manton, which we now call Marlborough. 
The Gadbourne flows by Avebury and Silbury, which is the Chan 
Ait, which is a synonym with Sarait of Persia, and Sar On of the 
Druids — signifying the hill or high place of the Sun — as see Bryant, 
i. 90. Silbury at Kennet is the Mound of Grace, and the Druidic 
rocks around are the Saronides. [" Who art thou, great mountain ? 
before Zerubbabel thou shalt become (meshor) holy ; and he shall 
bring forth the head-stone with shoutings, ' Ken, ken ' (grace, grace), 
unto it." — Zech. iv. 7.], whence our Kennets, Cambus-Kenneth in 
Scotland, and their Mounds of Grace. The Ken brook of Devon- 
shire had its great stone-heap upon it (Bryce's ' Exeter '), which 
has disappeared, and the name of Great Stone-heap has been trans- 
ferred to a mound on Haldon hill. 

So Gadbourne finds a scriptural warrant in Isaiah lxv. 11 : " For 
they have spread a table to Gad, and poured out a drink-offering to 
Mine." So Gad's Hill, in Kent, has still some Druidic boulders 
existing upon and around it. 

The Gadbourne flows to Manton, where it meets a second mound 
at the perennial fountain ; in those fountains, now half encircling 



390 NOTES TO THE iENEIS. ' 

its base, the boys of Marlborough College bathe and swim. And 
wherein I trace Maylles, son of Lavinia and iEneas. The Kennet 
then passes an Avington and a Ramsbury, and flows on to a third 
mound at Reading at its junction with the Thames. 

Another Avon rises at Tetbury — again Ait and bury, the solar 
mound — it stands, as its namesake the Ait of Egypt, as a pyramid. 
Tetbury rises a pyramid, and the vale of the intermittent stream of 
the Avon is passed by causeways. It flows to Brock enborough, 
called formerly Caidur-bury and Ingle-bury (see Archseol. xxvii. 
275), the Seat and the Eire-mound, but that seat of perennial foun- 
tain was changed to Malmesbury (Maylles, eldest son of iEneas 
and Lavinia), which had also the name of Bladun, and gave that 
name to its forest, reminding one of Prince Bladud and the 
sacrifice of swine to Hercules and Minerva, obliterating the Solar 
rites of the Aquee Solis and Druidic fane of Stanton Drew, since 
when St. Keyne has held the stream and fane. 

We find Ait Tor and Manaton, a conspicuous and well-known 
pair on Dartmoor ; also Yes Tor, and Mis Tor ; also Hessary Tor and 
Missare Tor — Assoros and Misare unchanged by time or distance 
from Assyria, which still mark on that forest and wilderness three 
solar and lunar pairs of Tors, whose names in various tongues signify 
the sun and moon. 

The Wiltshire Avon rises at places called Cannings, reduplicating 
the sound of Canens, the friend of the Camoenge, solar fountains of 
Latium. It flows by Amesbury with Stonehenge, Old Sarum, 
called in our tongue also Scarburg and Caradauc, and emerging at 
the sea by a fort now called Hengistbury, being another of our 
pagan legendary names of places. 

The Forth of Scotland was an Avon dhu, rising at Loch Chon, 
and a mound of Dunshie or fairies there ; the Highlander holds it 
sacred and will not hear a word spoken in its disparagement. 
(' Rob Roy.') 

So the Irish Blackwater was equally an Avon-duff and Avon- 
more, such adjunctive words signifying black, and not great. The 
little brooks of the Vale of Avoca have equally the names of Avon- 
beg and Avon-more with the Blackwater. The Blackwaters, Douglas, 
and Avon dhu, are by no means, as signifying black, proper to Britain. 



NOTES TO THE .ENEIS. 391 

" Now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the 
waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria to 
drink the waters of Phrat." — Jeremiah ii. 18. 

Sihor, Cale, Nigris, are ancient names of the Nile, all signifying 
black ; so we find also Kara Soo, the black water beneath Mount 
Argfens ; and Mr. Dodswell records, in Greece, the river Melas of 
Orchomenos, now named Mauro Nero, or Mauro potamos, signifying 
black (ii. p. 394) ; also the Anigros, now called Mauro potamos, or 
Black river (ii. 345.) 

These instances are adduced as a small portion of those which in 
these British realms are legion, showing fountain and river worship 
equally here as on Mount Ida and on the coast of Latium. At 
Lavinum they succeeded the bloody solar rites, and thence were 
a welcome form of paganism, affording sanctuary instead of de- 
manding blood. 

Gildas writes, " Nor will I call upon the mountains, fountains, or 
hills, or upon the rivers, which now are subservient to the use 
of men, but once were an abomination and destruction to them, and 
to which the blind people paid divine honour." Geoffry of Monmouth 
marks the epoch of the change, quoting Gildas on the laws of 
Dunwallo Molmutius, of which St. Gildas wrote, "He enacted that 
temples of the gods, as also cities, should have the privilege of 
giving sanctuary and protection to any fugitive or criminal that 
should flee from his enemy, and that ways leading to such temples 
and cities, and husbandmen's ploughs, should be allowed the same 
privilege." 

This was, methinks, the step in civilization similar to that when 
Moses appointed cities of refuge, in lieu of the wilderness and 
deserts which had afforded refuge, with starvation, before. 

The following names appear to involve the roots of Ain-Shems, the 
Solar fountain : — 

Avon, written diversely, Abona, Abana, Aufona, Ofene. 

CEnone, of Ida, beloved of Paris. 

iEnon by Salim, where was much water. 

Anaurus. Ain and Aur, which swept away the tomb of Cycnus, and 

where Jason lost his sandal. 
Meon and Meoninim, the Emim Tabur, or " waters of purification " cf 
Scripture. 



392 NOTES TO THE ^xNTEIS. 

Mount Enna the like ; the Omphale or navel of the world. 

Anna Perenna, on the Numicus. 

Camoense, Cam and Ain. 

Caneus, Cannings, St. Kenan and St. Keyne. 

Cyrene, fountain of Apollo there. 

En-ydra, En Dor, Endymion, of the Hydra and of blood. 

Shirin, the Eastern fountain wife of Chosroes. 

Eos Crana, of Scotland. 

The following appear to derive from the Solar orb and the white 
cippus of the Moon : — 

Apollo and Leucothoe. 

Pyrrhus and Hernr'one. 

Arthur and G-uinever. 

Craddoch and "Winifred. 

Tristram and Isolte. 

The daughters of Leucippus and of Alcippus. 

Ceyx and Alcyone. 
And metamorphosed into trees : — 

Apollo and Daphne. 

Pyramus and Thisbe. 

Philemon and Baucis. 

Lord Thomas and Lady Anne. 

Lord William and Lady Ellen. 

Black Douglas and Lady Margaret. 

We have many existing names, which are Solar etymons. Under the 
root Rhe or Re : — 

The Bea and Rhe, lakes of Scotland and Ireland. 

Rybury or Tanhill, above Silbury hill. 

Rea bury on Solway. 

Rhe head or Ash- well, source of the Rhe. 

Rhe dykes, where Guinever lies buried. 

Rydale. 

Regith and Regis, metropolis of Pendragon, existing still on many an 
old forest tract, as Houghton Regis, Salcombe Regis, &c. 

And we have lunar island-sanctuaries in Mona, Man and Menai. 

Framed an enormous horse. — Bk. ii. 1. 19. 

The Hippos or horse was assuredly an ark or ship, with which the 
word is almost synonymous. Argo, the constellated ship of the 
southern hemisphere, is still called the Horse by Arabians, and 



NOTES TO THE ^NEIS. 



!93 



Pagasaean Argo was shown as a horse in Pegasus. So Scyphius, the 
horse of Neptune, was the scyph or drinking-bowl, in which 




EGYPTIAN SYMBOLIC AEK. 

Hercules and Abaris sailed round the world. Bryant, vol. iii. 
p. 270, gives many instances of drinking and sacred cups, and ships 
being ambiguously used ; and the scyph, with the epithets of wicked 
and detestable, is the word common to both. He also remarks that 
the Hippos of Neptune alluded to in mythology was certainly a 
float or ship. 

"We accordingly find that the sea of Erythrse nourished immense 
horses, which fed on seaweed, and were only useful for traversing 
the main. This was probably at Ormutz, held to be one of the first 
naval stations ; and travelling from Ormutz to Cadiz with legends 
similar, we again find ships confused with horses and with bulls. 
Strabo, ii. iii. 4, tells us that ships were there called Hippi, and also 
that the horse's head found at Carthage was held to be a Phoenician 
vessel's prow, whilst the legend of Hercules and the bulls of Geryon 
show that they were bulls and cows from the Theba and Baris and 
Abaris, which were their synonyms. 

We find the ships of Diomede under the twin name of Argos 



394 



NOTES TO THE iENEIS. 



Hippium : islands in the Erythraean were Hippi. Neptune, Minerva 
the Goddess of the Ark " of Attic twigs composed," and the Goddess 
of the Horse of Troy, were both Hippius and Hippa. Hippa was a 
most ancient goddess : she is said to have received Dionusus, who 
had from her his second birth, which was assuredly the Ark, into 
which the patriarch entered and came forth from in " diphues " or 
second birth. Arion was called Hippos by Pausanias ; and Colonos 
of Athens, with Poseidon, are both termed the equestrians. 

The Argo was not a Grecian legend, it was usurped by them; 
but had it been a Grecian ship the constellation would not have 
been out of their sight in the southern hemisphere, as it is. 

As horses, cows, ships, the Theba, the Baris, the Arguz, have 
descended to us in mounds with crypts, which were probably the 
Roman Argei. And, moreover, the word sciph is ambiguous with 
rock in Phoenician dialect, and also with the Scyronic rocks ; and we 
find the Argei framed of wood, willow, and apparently of stone, in 
the Cabiric caverns and Etruscan sepulchres. 

All the internal palace. — Bk. ii. 1. 534. 




TTM 



2. W 



CJ 




HOUSE OF TRAGIC POET AT POMPEII 

1. Vestibulum. 

2. Atrium, with 

3. The Pluvium. 

4. Tablinum. 



5. Peristyle. 

6. Viridarium. 

7. Triclinium. 

8. Bibliotica. 



As it only misleads the reader and involves the subject-matter in 
confusion, translating things with a significance in one land and 



■ NOTES TO THE ^NEIS. 395 

tongue into those of another land, to which they have no relevance 
whatever, the sort of house which was in Yirgil's mind's eye, 
when he drew the picture of the palace of Priam, is here given. A 
house at Pompeii, with Yestihulum, Atrium, Peristyle, and Viri- 
darium. Gloom is the reigning property of these interior divisions : 
the cubiculi, or sleeping cabins, must have been dark. Curtains, 
alluded to Georgics iii. 25, and Metamorphoses, x. 595, 

" As in the burnished Atria fair and fresh, 
The purple cm-tains cast a rubric shade," 

were drawn over the Atria, affording shelter from sun and wind. 
Priam's palace was the above, magnified for his fifty progeny ; and 
the Yiridarium is the Penetralia where the final drama and death of 
Priam is supposed to have occurred. 

Abandoned on the shore his mighty frame 

Decapitated lies — mere dust without a name. — Bk. ii. 1. 619. 

The legends of our Tintagel and of the birth of Arthur are as 
numerous as the legends of the foundation of Rome — now they take 
the form of Hercules and now of Theseus. The birth of Arthur 
duplicates the birth of Amphitryonius or Hercules, and that of 
Tristram duplicates the story of Theseus and the black sails which 
caused the deaths respectively of iEgeus and Isolte. 

Guinever is the Helen, and Launcelot is the Paris. Guinever is 
called Trifiine in the Britannic legend, and saves her life by turning 
swineherd, and tending " cochons immondes." Trevena is the 
name of the parish of Tintagel ; the fountain bursts by the parish 
church, and is the Ffinnon and Evenina of the spot. 

These legends do not appear to be copied one from another, but to 
be different versions springing from the same source and varying 
according to clime and tongue through which they travelled. 

Tintagel singularly duplicates Troy in its legendary story and in 
its material remains. The three barrows of iEsyetes, Ilus, and of the 
Amazon, " whom men call Bateiea but the Immortals the bounding 
Myrina," are here represented by the tumuli of Cadon, Dhustow, 
and Bossiney ; from Dhustow, as from iEsyetis, the warder can see 



396 NOTES TO THE MNEIS. 

from sea to sea. Dlmstow, the black head, also called Touchborough, 
probably the old pagan god Teut, in that resembling the Kali Koloni, 
in Eastern speech equally signifying " The Black Mound." 

The site of the City of Old Priam on Bounarbachi is represented 
by the Mountain Brown Willy, the Gelliwic and Metropolis of 
Arthur ; on neither one or other of which does a remain exist to 
tell of either mythical city, which were both of them mountain 
sanctuaries ; Hecuba, daughter of Dymas, and Guinever, daughter 
of Ladugan, their ill-fated queens. The Kiver 

" Xanthus, its name by those of heavenly birth, 
But called Scamander by the sons of earth," 

finds an exact equivalent at Tintagel in the Camel, or 

Alan, its name by those of heavenly birth, 
But Camel called by children of the earth. 

The roots of the words are composed of el and cam, and om, 
severally sun and fountain sources, showing it was a river dedicated 
to the sun. The parish churches of Camelford stand in wilds ; Advent 
church is a corruption of Avon, fountains break there, and a Druidical 
station is very evident ; the church of Llanteglos stands upon a second 
and nameless river, answering to the Simois, the twin river with 
the Xanthus of Troy. 

Brown Willy, with Caspard Pool spring-head, and the " forty 
fountains " feeding the Lank and the Camel, answer to the many- 
fountained Ida. 

Two promontories, Carnbeak and Pentire, represent Segeium and 
Ehoeteium. Two harbours and the bay of Trebareth, and the other- 
wise rocky coast, duplicate the shore of Troy. Tintagel stands as 
does the modern Troas, and tumuli and sacred ways of boulder 
quartz-rocks abound. 

As the topography duplicates itself on either shore so do the 
legends. 

The birth of Hercules, who raided the shores of Troy, and the 
birth of Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, who conquered Tintagel, 
are identical. Jove, Mercury, and Alcmena, the wife of Amphi- 
tryon, are represented by Pendragon, Merlin, and Igerna, wife of 



NOTES TO THE ^XEIS. 397 

Godois ; and the tale is repeated in our land in all its abomination. 
The twelve labours of Hercules are represented by the twelve battles 
of Arthur. The uxurious demigod and monarch, their feasts and 
carousels, their missions to destroy giants, boars and stags, and the 
doubtful fame and fidelity of their wives — unhappy wives, won by 
the sword and carried off by their husbands — mainly coincide. Then 
the scene shifts, and Arthur and Guinever duplicate Old Priam and 
Hecuba ; the knights represent the sons of Piiam, against whom are 
leagued the Grecian chiefs, and Mordred and the Kings, and in the 
battle of the gods and in the battle of Camelon, and their sequels, 
all perish. 

Thomas the Ehymer of Erceldoune, in Tristram and Isolte dupli- 
cates the version of Theseus and Ariadne ; and the Medeia of the 
tale, with her Pontic poisons, is represented by Brengwain, who 
poisons and betrays them with love potions ; the death of Isolte 
in Brittany duplicates that of iEgeus, father of Theseus, who 
destroys herself at sight of the black sails of her lover. 
. Bounarbachi and Gellywic have both lost the cadyr, seats, of 
Hecuba and Guinever: Hecuba was converted to the Mound of 
Cynosema and Guinever sleeps at the Druidic station of Ehe Dykes 
at Cupar. Arthur's fate was happier than Priam's : he was carried 
to the sanctuary Isle of Avalon by three queens, Vivianne, Morgane, 
and the queen of Xorth Galys ; where he lies entranced, as doth his 
wizard Merlin at Merlin's Mount, Carmarthen, at the junction of a 
river with the Tweed in Scotland, and at Berendon in Brittany, under 
the spell of Queen Yivianne. 

It was on the mountain of Gellywic that Queen Guinever sat in 
her cadyr or chair, when Mordred assaulted her and dragged her 
from her chair ; " he dragged her from her throne and left neither 
meat nor drink in the court ;" and it was to avenge this insult that 
the battle of Camelon was fought. 

Mordred, as the solar principle, offered sacrifice, and abhorred the 
feasts of Priam and of Arthur, whence the allusion to meats and 
drinks. Hecuba was a watery principle, though daughter of Dymas 
(blood?) Guinever of Ladugan, a bloody conqueror, was a white 
principle, affording sanctuary. 

The legend of Meleac:er and the daughter of the fairfcoted Evenina 



398 NOTES TO THE ^ENEIS. 

— Cleopatra or Alcyone — also finds its reflex in our tales of Priam 
and Arthur. There again are the uxurious monarch and the grieving 
dame ; the double dialected names, the death in flames — the snatched 
away and the retrieved spouse ; the Marpessian rock and the fair- 
footed daughter of the Avon : a version older than Homer, and told 
by old Phoenix in the Iliad, xi. 550. 

Grildas calls the ravisher Melua, and lays the scene of abduction 
at Glasgow; another version gives the name of Meleager and 
Glastonbury. Spenser, in the ' Fairie Queen,' vi. 2, 28, — 

" And Tristram is my name, the only heire 
Of good old Meliogras — which did reign 
In Cornwalle." 

Walter Scott calls him Maleagant (' Tristram,' p. 425). We can 
trace the spear of Achilles, " Melia," as adverse to " Ros," the spear 
of Arthur ; the slaughtering as against the sanctuary symbol ; the 
black stone of sacrifice as against the white cippus, and watery 
principle of sanctuary. 

The black and fiery principle is shown in the names of Morgan- 
le-faye, Mordred or Moraunt, and Paladore his father, — 

" Injurious chief who recked not right nor wrong." — Heber ; 

the white in Launcelot du Lac : — 

" Ah, form to memory dear ! 
It is the nameless youth : it is the forestere/' — Heber. 

The tale is oft repeated in our more modern ballads, under various 
etymons : Lord Thomas, Lord William, and Black Douglas, with 
Lady Anne, Lady Ellen, and Lady Margaret. 

Lord Thomas eponymising Tomi, Tomyris, which descend from 
Hhoms (Emesa), the City of the Sun, and are found in Britain in 
the Mounds, Tomans, of Lake Bala and Loch Tay, and the per- 
verted name of St. Michael's Mount to " duas tumbas." Lord 
William eponymises Brown Willy, the Gilly-Wic of Arthur, the 
Willy of Selwood Forest, and the Vieux Guillaume of Brittany : 
the Black Douglas of Yarrow speaks for itself, in conjunction with 



NOTES TO THE ^ENEIS. 399 

its Druidic stones, representing the Seven Brothers of Fair Mar- 
garet — and Lady Anne and Lady Ellen eponymise the fountain 
sanctuaries. They all expiate in death and metamorphoses the un- 
sanctioned passion of the solar principle invading the lunar sanc- 
tuaries, and which are mere local versions of Paris and Helen, 
Chosroes and Shirin, Apollo and Leucothoe, Idas and Evenina, 
Craddock and Winifred, Tristram and Isolte, and Arthur and 
Guinever, — which list might be increased to a hundred instances 
without exhausting the supply. 

The only question being whether they are local legends deduced 
from the one original, or whether they are copies one of the other 
with variations adapted to the spot. Which latter I imagine to be 
impossible and incredible ; whilst the dispersion of the shepherd 
tribes of solar worshippers carried their legends over the globe, and 
would naturally have left a local version. 

Thus we find the Eastern roots still existent in these pagan spots, 
although it has been tried in vain to change and to eradicate them. 
St. Keyne and Cannings, St. Anne and St. Catherine, still represent 
the fountains and the seat; still our Camels and Camelots, our 
Eyburys, Avons, and Aveburys, reflect the solar hills and serpent 
fountains. A universal spirit exists to abase and simplify etymolo- 
gies : the pagan gods are not only ignored, but they are despised 
and rejected for pigs or dogs, or ridiculous mice, — nothing too base, 
nothing too absurd to supersede Odin or Orion. The name of the 
Idol is to be " put forth out of the land," and the pride of Alorus or 
Ximrod is to be " overturned, overturned, overturned," by divine 
decree.— Zech. xiii. 2 ; Ezek. xxi. 27. 

I must here intrude some unwelcome etymologies necessary to 
show the light in which I regard these spots, which have given rise 
to legends and been personified by imaginary heroes. 

" Tros Anchisiades " is a personification left in its original 
archaeology. 

Tros truly signifies the head, whence the name of Troja. Eos 
signifies head in our Holy Scriptures, and its modern Eastern equiva- 
lent is Eas : so we find the spear of Arthur was named Eos ; his 
dog Cavall, a synonym of Cephel and Cephalus. The word Eos 
still exists with us. Ehos-fair is the top village and spring of 



400 NOTES TO THE ^NEIS. 

Plinlimmon. The Cantruv Boss is one of the mythic provinces of 
Arthur ; and Henry VIII. assumed it when he inscrihed himself in 
Hebrew as " Eas Eliun " upon the medal which is given in Evelyn's 
' Discourse on Medals.' * 

As Tros and Troja signify the mountain summit, so Priam is a 
version of The Eeem, or the Sanctuary of the Sun. "We find the 
word in the Eastern Hareem ; in the rock Trapezos of the Crimea, 
named the Krym; in old Scandinavian Thrym — who was the 
rock smitten in vain by Odin's hammer ; in Eemus, slain by 
Eomulus, the genius of the Aventine and Mons Sacer as against the 
Palatine. Eym is an old British word signifying strength : even as 
we find it used by Moses and Balaam : — " God has the strength of 
the Eeem," which means that the real divine strength did not lay in 
the rocky sanctuary or its symbol the Unicorn or Pyramid ; but He 
was the principle of strength and stability, alluded to also in the 
95th Psalm, " And the strength of the Hareems is his also." 

Feasting and security were the characteristics of Troy and 
Gellywic, of Priam and Arthur. The white principle of sanctuary 
is shown in Britain in Pridwin the shield, Bedwini the Bishop, and 
Guinever the wife of Arthur, all embodying Gwin or white in their 
appellations. 

The eponyms of Troy — the Hecuba, Hector, Paris, Helenus, 
Deiphobus, Troilus, Polites, and the daughters Ilione, Cassandra, 
and Polyxena— set forth the latitudinarism of Panomphean Troy, 
which admitted into its sanctuary all phases of paganism, even the 
firebrand Paris who caused its fall. 

Hecuba appears to be like to Ecbatana, Uch-aub, and Uch-beth- 
Ain, the Great Fountain. A glance at Eawlinson's (i. 241) Map of 
Ecbatana will prove its appropriate appellation. Uch Tor is the 
great tor or mound attached, and the other eponyms of various 
pagan fanes which with those of Greece — the Achillea, Memmonia, 
Ulyssea — had left pagan shrines and reminiscences over the face of 
the globe, which had in many instances yielded name and fame to a 
successor. The Achillea had yielded to Tyre and Bel ; the Iasonea 

* The Tyrrhenes called themselves Easeni— Eas and Ain, worshippers 
of the Solar Fountain. 



NOTES TO THE ^NEIS. 401 

to the Argives ; Menmon was lost in Susa and the sows and boars of 
mythology. 




TYKE AND THE SANDALS. 

To pursue the etymologies to the Fourth Book, and Tyre, we find 
the eponyms to be Belus, Elyssa, Pygmalion, Sichsens, Anna Perenna, 
Bosra, and Dido. 

Elyssa was perhaps the Isle of the Sun, equivalent to Creusa : 
El and Ee, the Sun ; and Usa, a common final of islands. 

Jason and JEneas both lost a Creusa, burnt in conflagrations ; they 
lost a Medeia and Elissa also. 

Pygmalion — P,yge,elion — the mound or mounds of the Sun, 
as shown in the woodcut above. Elyssa, who is a recusant from its 
worship, worshipped with one sandalon and one foot bare. 

Sichaeus, singularly in its sound represents the opposite principle, 
which the Greeks have immortalised in Psyche, the soul. We have 
in Holy Writ the fane called Sephee, although what it was in oppo- 
sition to the Bamoth, it is not easy to say; we also find the 
mythical Sappho connected with the third pyramid, and the Suffetes, 
Phoenician magnates, of which family the murdered and wealthy 
Sicha?, to drop the Latin final, appear to belong, and Pasiphae was an 
honoured shrine at Sparta. 

Anna Perenna was the solar fountain, the never wanting Ain- 
Shems, -whom we find on the shore of Lavinum, and a nymph of 
the intermittent spring Numicus. Bosrah is a Scriptural name, one 
of the denounced : " I will send fire upon the Chomah of Bosrah." 

2 D 



402 NOTES TO THE ^ENEIS. 

And lastly, we have the name of Dido baffling etymology. It ha3 
not a fixed immutable letter in the name ; no two nations now 
would pronounce it alike. I go to Dhu-stow, the black solar mound, 
the Kali Kolone of Troy, as the most probable explanation of that 
eponym ; it is a sole sandalon ; it is doomed to fire ; and Dido 
exemplifies in her person the sentences of Holy Writ : — " I will send 
a fire upon Bosrah and upon Tyre," " And the daughter of Tyre shall 
be there with a gift." 

The third set of eponyms occur in the YHth Book: — Latinus, 
Amata, Lavinia, Turnus, and Juturna and Mezentius, and Tarchon. 

Latinus is the eponym of the secret and cryptish worship which 
was the prevailing worship, whether at Cumee and the Avernan 
Lake, or of Albunea and its grove, or of the tumuli covering 
crypts, which were Argei, and reflected the Ark and its Mysteries, 
and which we find embedded in the Eastern syllable ohr, whence 

" Latuisset his in oris." — viii. 323. 

— the mound, and Tages, T, eegse, the mound which became oracular. 

Lat ; Latium, Latinus, all devolve from this noted Eastern root 
signifying enchantment and secrecy. 

Amata is a corruption of Hamath, the Land of the Sun, and its 

"bloody rites and orgies, which she carries out in her story. And 

Lavinia is Ain-shems, the Auv, or Fountain of the Sun, benignant at 

On in Egypt ; and wherever else found, the symbol of safety, beauty, 

and fertility. 

Turnus is the Mordred of the version, — 

" I sought to lure her from her cottage rest for Mordred's arms ; " 

but Morgue, the dark lady, was baffled by Merlin (Ileber's version.) 
Mezentius was a rival lunar power. He had his mound on 
Numicus : " Cadit magnus Mezentius," as Ovid writes ; and his mate- 
rial remain existed on the flood where iEneas walked unsandaled. 

Misenus, another* Contemptor Divum, had his mound on Cape 
Misenus. 

Juturna was the watery genius of Lake Nemi, or one of the 
Arician fountains. She had a' fountain at Home; and her prefix of 

probably in the old 



NOTES TO THE .ENEIS. 403 

Etruscan signified the watery principle. I also trace it in Eupator and 
Eumenes of Pontus, the Eumenides and the Euxine, and the E wells 
and Ewers of our own land. See note * Metamorph.' p. 161. 

So Pallas and Palinnrus are the two fire fanes, eliminated from 
the land of fountains and of Vestal fire ; and -Tarchon is the priest, 
the Chon, or Koes, see Bochart, i. 397, on the Cabiri, the cave 
Zerynthus and their priests, Koin ; the very likeness in battle of 
Arthur. He is the head of the twelve Etruscan tribes, and takes the 
secondary part of aiding the right. 

There is also the etymologic Sylvia : Rhea Sylvia, and Sylvius, 
father of Latinus ; Posthumius, son of iEneas ; and another, his de- 
scendant. It is Fountain of the Sun, Sil, and Via, a corruption of the 
Veer and Phrear, fountain of the East. 

Virbius, Trivia, and Rbea Sylvia are all fountain fanes. Our Sil- 
bury Hill on Gadbourne, and the whole list of Fairs in Wales, pro- 
nounced via — Rhosfair, Erfair, Llanfair, &c. — are local instances of 
this root. Verbeia, nymph of our Wharfe (see ' Metam.' p. 453), is 
the feminine of Virbius ; and the connection of horses with the 
fanes is still kept up at the Y Finnon fair of Winifred, to which 
horses are taken to be healed. 

I here close the distasteful subject of etymologies. Regarded 
broadly and widely, they carry conviction ; but the corruptions and 
aberrations of all pagan records will always give so great a per- 
centage of exceptions, that the labours of Bochart have failed to bear 
the conviction his works were intended to carry. It appears to me 
to be the only way of elucidating the etymons of the pagan poets. 
All others not only fail, but sink into dreadful and disgusting 
bathos ; and the clue is that the pagan fane created the etymologic 
hero, and not that the hero created the fane. 

Note to Book V. 

Virgil works out his Etrurian and antiquarian lore in sundry parts 
of his iEneas ; and it may be traced in his names of ships, to which 
he gives the names of Etruscan deities, in the four galleys which 
compete for the race — Pristis, Scylla, Chimera, and Centaurus. 

The Phoenicians carried their tutelary god on the poops or on the 

2 d 2 



404 



NOTES TO THE ^NEIS. 



prows of their vessels, and from the god the vessel apparently took 
its name. 

The Etrurians had a large marine element in their nationalities. 
The caverns which there abound coincide in all main points with 
those of the presumed Cabeiri mariners, and are rilled with repre- 
sentations of their marine gods. They were termed Pataikoi. We 
trace them into Egypt, where their monstrous statues were jeered at 
by Cambyses (Herod, iii. 37) ; and to our own Scriptures, where 
the Castor and Pollux bore the Apostle Paul, that sign beino- 
" Utile sollicitse sidus uterque rati."— Fasti, v. 720. 




ETRUSCAN MARINE DEITY" (DKNNis's ' ETRURIA '). 



We learn from Mr. Dennis, vol. ii. p. 180, that many of the urns 
and sarcophagi in these subterrenes " bear purely native mythological 
subjects ; the most numerous class being those of marine deities, who 
would naturally be much worshipped by a people whose power lay 
greatly in their commerce and maritime supremacy." 

They are generally figured as women from the middle upwards, 
ending in fishes' tails. A few, however, represent the male sex, 
which are generally winged. They also bear the caput pinnatum, 
and an eye in the wings, and the sacred symbolic serpents which we 
find upon the heads of Apollo, Bacchus, and Mercury. 

The male deities are usually called Glaucus, the female Scylla, 
but there is little else save the sex to distinguish the two : Scylla 
has not the dogs we now attribute to her ; and they both catch and 
entrap warriors in the folds of their tails. 

If the above woodcut be a representation of Pristis, so the woodcut 



NOTES TO THE ^NEIS. 405 

No. II. p. 410, I believe to be the prototype of Scylla : the white 
tower or cippus being the Virgin's faultless form, and symbol of 
safety : whilst the dogs or wolves of the base and the subterranean 
caverns mark the Circaean rites of the Sun and her metamorphoses. 
And so woodcut No. I. appears tome to exemplify Chimsera — the Lion, 
Goat, and Serpent — Ari, iEgse, and Aub being the constituent parts. 

Centaurus is the Ark itself, as Bryant, iii. 315, points out. The 
Ark was called Centaurus ; and the Arkites, Centauri of Nephelim 
race. They are described by Nonnus as horned, and inseparable 
companions of Dionysus. He states they sprung originally from 
Cyprus, which notion arose, says Bryant, from the original ark being 
built of gopher- wood. So we find the Centaur represented on the chest 
of Cypselus (Pausanias, v. 19), and on coins of Berith or Beroe 
(Bryant, iii. p. 245), with the man saved from the sea. 

These deities have a sword, trident, firebrand or mass of rock, 
like the Centaurus of Book X., to show their power of destruction. 
They ofttimes wear torques, and appear to be symbolic propitiations 
to the destructive agencies of the sea. 

In Book X. we have a second list of these Pataikoi, or Marine 
Gods, but localized to Etruria. Massicus commands the Tigris, 
marking their Eastern origin, alluded to in 1. 177. 

" The sons of Lydia leagued with foreign lands, 
By foreign chiefs were led on Latin lands." 

Abas carries the golden Apollo on his poop. Cupavus comes again 
in the Centaurus with the rock uplifted in his hands, as in the 
Etruscan pictures : he is conjoined with Ocnus, who was perhaps 
Bianor's tomb near Mantua, Bianor being a centaur. The name still 
exists on the mouths of the Padus in the Venetian Bucentaur. We 
next have Benacus, like Tigris, shown as Father Benacus; and 
Triton the mighty. 

iEneas' own ship bore the Phrygian lions joined on Ida's Peak, his 
natal spot, and which I think are shown in the Argive carving above 
the gate of Mycenaj. (Woodcut, p. 418.) 

Note on Book VI. 
Did Virgil draw his description of Tartarus from his own imagi- 
nation and fancy, or did he illustrate by his verse any phase of 



406 NOTES TO THE 2ENEIS. 

pagan worship ? To my mind the latter is assuredly the fact ; 
neither do I believe he has indulged in absolute fiction in a single 
line of his iEneis, but that all therein is taken from legend or from 
pagan antiquities. Mr. Faber, in his work on the Cabeiri, has 
pointed out that the description of the descent below is drawn from 
a Cabeiric cavern and the Cabeiric rites. And this note is compiled 
to consider the descent in that light, and to draw together some 
antiquities, and some points bearing upon them ; trusting they may 
be read solely as an antiquarian treatise, and be void of offence to 
classical or religious jealousies. 

Who were the Cabeiri, and what were their attributes ? 

The coast of Syria and the town of Bereuth, also the island of 
Samothrace, and a certain cavern therein by name Zerynthus, in 
which were the mysteries of Hecate, and where dogs were immolated 
unto her, the priesthood being called Koin (Bochart, i. 397), are the 
first localities to which this worship is assigned. The cavern, and 
the ark, and the number eight, appear to be their attributes. 

Eliun, the Most High, and Beruth, the Covenant, produced pro- 
geny, from whom descended Sydyk the Just, who begat the eight 
Cabeiri : they are said to have built the first ship, and to have 
solemnly consecrated " the reliques of the ocean" at Berytus 
(Bereuth). 

Sedyc or Sydyc are names given to Noah to express the Man of 
Justice : the Ark was the abode of Justice : the eight sons or gods 
agree with the number of persons inclosed in the Ark. . 

On the planisphere of Denderah they are shown as eight persons 
in an egg. These eight persons, called Cabeiri, appear to have chosen 
two fanes, Mount Casius and the town of Byblus : they were the 
first constructors of a float, or ship, and are represented equally 
as husbandmen, as merchants, or men of the sea. They built 
Berytus and consecrated " all that the deluge had spared," Their 
rites consisted in memorials of the Ark, Berith, and of the persons 
therein preserved. 

The Cabeiri had a chief, Sydyc himself under divers appellations •* 
he is mentioned as a person of whom the Mother of the Gods had 
been enamoured : one who had been consigned to darkness, but out 
of that gloom displayed a wonderful light. 



NOTES TO THE ^NEIS. 407 

Saturn and Janus appear to have been different forms of Sedyc 
the Just, who was represented with four eyes, two in front and two 
behind. 

The sickle, pruning-knife, and key, in the hands of each, appear 
to have been the same thing, and common to all. 

The ship is common to the three ; the Roman As, with the head 
of Janus and the ship of Saturn on the reverse, makes it common 
to the three ; whilst the age of Saturn and of Sedyc was the age of 
justice. 

They were all deposed. Nimrod " profaned to be great," Jupiter 
cast Saturn from above, and Janus and his ship were mythical 
amidst the twelve great deities of Eome. 

The Cabeiri, and their rites, in their passage over the world got 
a plurality of names — Corybantes, Idasi, Dactyli, Curetes, Ignetes, 
Telchines, and other proofs of the curse of the plain of Shenir. 

We trace the rites under the names of Ceres and Proserpine, from 
Samothrace to islands at the mouth of the Loire, and our own isle 
of Mona, and the Saronides or Druidesses there. 

The Ark had a variety and plurality of names. Theba is that in 
which it appears in Genesis, " Make thee Theba" or Thebe ; from 
whence the towns of Theba? derived 'their names and their rites, — 
the ship of Isis with its crypt, Omphale, Umbilicus — navel or 
oracular crypt. The mound of the Cilician Theba? of Andromache 
was the sole remain of that city after it had been raided by divine 
Achilles, and Theba? — "jam stabant Theba?" of Bceotia, where the 
heifer — Theba, heifer and ark — conducted Cadmus, and where the two 
Coroni or mounds, daughters of Orion or Baal, marked that town in 
later days. 

Arguz is the name in which it descended to Greece, and gave 
name to Argos and its grove and temple to the god of inundation. 
We have no fewer than three references to this word in Roman 
legend and lore. The grove of Argus and the Argi-phont or priest 
thereof, rendered Argi-letum and referred to some death of an Argive. 
They had the processions to the Argei, the description of which Ovid 
in his Fasti postponed to a subsequent book and never explained 
them. And there were the Argei or wicker frames of men, called 
Scirpia, cast by the vestal from the wooden bridge Sublicius to float 



408 KOTES TO THE ^NEIS. 

home to Argos. Sanctuary being deeply shadowed forth in all these 
records. 

Lastly we have the word Aron, the Ark of the Lord, made by 
Moses ; and the word Arguz, conjoined therewith as the coffer 
accompanying it, of 1 Samuel vi. 7. 

The instances of exposure in arks are many. Moses was exposed in 
a theba of bulrushes ; aud in Deut. xxvi. 5, in the scriptural confes- 
sion, " A Syrian ready to perish was my father," he presents, with 
the confession, a basket of fruit, the basket " tanneh" being Chaldaic, 
and signifying a basket of osiers, and which word is the subject of 
blessing and cursing in Deut. xxviii., whilst we see the Assyrian 
sculptured figures constantly carrying such a basket in one hand and 
the offering in the other. 

Jason, Osiris, and Dionysus, were exposed ; Semiramis, (Edipus, 
and Ion ; Cyrus and Darius ; Danae and Perseus ; Komulus and 
Eemus, in an ark with an inscription on it; Cypselus with the 
Centaur, and Erichthonius in the ark composed of Attic osiers. 

And pertinent to this subject, and to the chapter of Bochart (' Sacra,' 
i. 396), on the point, is Camilla of the XL iEneid : she was devoted 
in an ark and cast with it, bound to a spear, over the flooded 
Amasenus. Such also was the passage of Dejanira over the flooded 
Evenus ; Nessus, who was the Baris, tumulus, and Baris, boat — for 
the terms are ambiguous. And the subject of exposure in the ark 
in the cases of many of these instances is conjoined with the wan- 
derings of Isis, Io, Ehea, and Byblis ; and of its object the Ark, 
called Demeter, Pyrrha, Selene, Meen, Argo, Argus, and Arcus — 
under all which names it is recorded in legend. 

I now proceed to the second part of the enquiry — the subterranean 
caverns. 

About the region of Tortosa or Marathos caverns are very 
numerous ; unfortunately all antiquities are considered, prima facie, 
to be sepulchral, whilst in many instances they were pagan fanes. 

The accompanying woodcut is from Maundrell, who took it in a 
hurried visit. 



NOTES TO THE ^ENEIS. 



409 




Z~Z^MHt^ 




NO. I. — TOWERS OF TORTOSA, AND SUBTERRANEAN CHAMBERS. 



410 NOTES TO THE .ENEIS. 

This second is taken from Mr. Fergusson's work upon architecture. 




NO. II. — TEMPLE AT MARATHOS. 

The third is one I have composed from the description by Maun- 
drell of the chambers outside the Gate of Damascus of Jerusalem, and 
which, on the authority of Mr. Faber in his work on the Cabeiri, that 
the descent of iEneas into the infernal regions was taken from such 
cavern, I have added to supplement the other two, and I shall treat 
them as one, for the accounts of all are superficial and unsatisfactory. 





! W U yy H 



10. 



NO. III. — CABEIRIC CAVE AT JERUSALEM. 

Entrance. The hole — "furens antro se immissit aperto." — vi. 262. 

Void plains of gloom. 

Path to Acheron and Cocytus. 

Field. Infants immaturely perished. 

„ Those slain unjustly. 

„ Suicides. 

„ Mournful. 'Lovers. 

„ Ultimate. Warriors. 

The adamantine portal, 

The irremeable way, 

The lustral waters, and 

The branch suspended. 
Tartarus. 
Elysium. 
Gates of sleep, in Maundrell's woodcut, p. 409, No. I. 



Eefer back to No. I. for the parting 
ways, to 



NOTES TO THE .ENEIS. 411 

It is suggested that these niches are dedicated to the Winds, and 
for offerings by mariners : 

" In cavern vast there iEolus constrains 
The winds and struggling tempests." 

The niches are cut to a depth of 18 feet, in hard and solid rock, 
as if intended to receive marine ex voto offerings, such being con- 
sistent with the marine profession of the Cabeiri ; whilst, in fact, 
they held cists, or coffins of stone, sculptured with garlands. 

The Gortygian Cavern of Crete contains similar radii ; so also the 
third Pyramid of Gheeza in its niche-room ; whilst the ' Archseologia' 
offer us specimens from Alexandria, vol. xxviii. p. 52, and from the 
Orkneys, vol. xxxii. ; and lastly, many of the Etruscan chambers offer 
points very similar. 

Maundrell writes : " Outside of the Gate of Damascus exists a 
series of subterraneous chambers known by the name of the Tombs 
of the Kings. 

" Entering by the rock you find an underground court, 40 paces 
square ; a portico with a hole to enter by, leading successively to 
seven or eight apartments, the two last lower than the others, 
and descended to by six or seven steps. These apartments are 
surrounded by niches, 9 feet deep by 3 square, holding coffins of 
stone sculptured with garlands. The doors of stone, with their 
pivots cut in the native rock. Lastly, a channel for water cut the 
whole length of the chambers." 

Compare this with the description in Ezekiel viii. : — 

" And he brought me to the door of the inner gate that looketh 
toward the north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy." — 
Ver. 3. 

" And he brought me to the door of the court ; and when I looked, 
behold a hole in the wall. And he said unto me, Son of man, dig 
now in the wall : and when I had digged in the wall, behold a door." 
—Ver. 7. 

" There was weeping for Tammuz." — Ver. 14. 

" There was the fire-worship of the sun." — Ver. 16. 

u With the branch to their nose."— Ver. 17. 

The hole in the wall, the door of native rock, the sculptures of 



412 NOTES TO THE jENEIS. 

garlands, and the stream of water for purification, all point these out 
as the chambers of imagery denounced by Ezekiel. 

Our Saviour also appears to have alluded to such chambers in 
his speech, " Lo ! he is in the secret chambers, believe it not." 

The Etruscan caverns given by Mr. Dennis are very similar : — 

The entrance is by a hole, forcing the votary to creep : the like 
in the Gortygian Cavern of Crete, the Pyramid of Mycerinus, and 
our cavern of New Grange, treated of by Colonel Vallencey. Take the 
description of the Buche de Saraceni. — Dennis, vol. ii. p. 6. " We 
enter a cave and creep through a passage 3 feet high, which widens 
into chambers opening in various directions extending into the heart 
of the hill — how far unknown ; it is a perfect labyrinth. The 
tomb of Cervetri," ii. p. 32. " Descended by eight steps, half full of 
water," p. 45. 

At Clusium, the shafts for light or air, resembling those of 
Maundrell, are mentioned especially ; and similarly with the arks 
contained in the Tomb of the Kings, and en wreathed with vine 
sculpturings ; so we find in Etruria miniature sarcophagi, 2 feet in 
length, which were perhaps miniature Argei or votive arks, and 
constant repetitions of feasting in all its forms. 

Bochart (' Sacra,' i. 747) notes that with the Syrians " Sciph est 
petra ; " Scyph and rock are synonyms. Hence Scyphius Petraios 
and his birth as a horse, from the rock of Colonus. Bochart goes on 
further, and gives authorities associating Scyphius with the word 
Scironites ; and Sciron's hated bones were turned to rocks : as Ovid, 
1 Met.' vii. 475 : — 

" Sciron no longer raids : him earth abhors ; 
Him seas reject, the robber's scattered bones 
Time and antiquity have turned to stones. 
Scironian still those hated rocks are named." 

And I suspect the Saronidan rocks are but a variation of the same 
thing, which were Magi or Druidic. 

The Scyph was equally called the wicked Scyph, and was both 
the ship and drinking-cup. 

The Theba was of wicker-work, the Scyph was of stone. It 
appears to. me that the legendary rites of the Argei, Scirpea, Theba, 



NOTES TO THE iENEIS. 413 

and Tanneh, all of which were osier-framed, and symbols of sanc- 
tuary, were contrasted by the Scyph of stone by another pagan sect ; 
and that the Pcyph of stone, with the Arguz of wood of Mycerinus, 
was an attempt by the sect his name eponymizes to conjoin the 
twain. 

The Pyramids : these were three ; all three had the sarcophagus 
in their secret chambers. 

Now Cheops, the Serpent king, and Chephren, the Solar king, 
were not buried in the Pyramids ; they were buried in the tombs by 
their side, like the fabled Phoenix which belongs to them. Their 
ashes were lain in the porch. Bones were found in the sarcophagus, 
but they proved to be those of an ox, supposed of Apis. 

The third Pyramid of Mycerinus also has the sarcophagus, but he 
himself is enclosed in a wooden coffer, now in the British Museum ; 
and he also so enclosed his daughter in a Boos, or cow of wood, and 
sent her to the lake and marshes of Sais, to inaugurate his new 
sectical solar and lunar combination there. 

We obtain the names of these reliques from Holy Writ. The 
Ark, or sarcophagus, was called Aron, but the Hebrew Aron was of 
wood, the coffer attached called Arguz. 

It is proposed that these are stone Scyphs — the cymbia or scyphs 
in which the Phoenix is portrayed (' Metamorph.' p. 447) as tra- 
velling : it is called by commentators " the wicked Scyph," " the 
detestable rites of the Sc} r phus ; " and Pecus is the name of the Zeus 
who taught the mysteries and wickedness necessary. (See Bryant, 
iii. 286.) 

We find this stone Ark in the vault of Mycerinus, having the 
ramps blocking the approach, and the radii excavations, as in the 
Gortygian cavern of Crete, and as in these subterranean chambers of 
Tortosa, and the similar chambers in Etruria. 

They belonged, methinks, to a sect antagonistic to the Theba, 
Scirpea, and Tanneh ; they were Scyphius petraios, the Scyph of 
stone, and hated like their masters. 

We find another coffer under the name of Cypselus, a synonym of 
the Theba, and his preservation in a coffer ; and on that coffer we 
learn from Pausanius, v. 19, that the Centaur was depicted. The 
Centaur belongs, not to the Scyph, but to the Theba, but he carries 



414 NOTES TO THE iENEIS. 

the rock in his hands. These legends tally in their varied versions. 
I do not believe these stone sarcophagi were framed for human 
remains, but to have been dedicated for some superstitious reason 
similar to that of the Theba, but of another and antagonistic pagan 
race and sect. 

They are made of basalt, porphyry, alabaster, and the chiefest 
of stones. They have a hole cut to draw off water, supposed to 
have been made when converted to baths by the Romans. I doubt 
the Romans having used a supposed mortuary receptacle for a bath. 
They were peculiarly sensitive upon death, and refrained even from 
pronouncing the word, whilst on the other hand they had the most 
sumptuous baths of any people known. 

Agamemnon is slain in his bath ; hear Cassandra's prophecy 
(' ^Eschylus,' by Mr. Potter) :— 

" See, see there ; from the heifer keep the Bull : 
O'er his black brows she throws th' entangling vest. 
He falls — amidst the cleansing laver falls — 
I tell you, of the bath, the treacherous bath." 

He fell, methinks, in his own Atridan scyph, and the house of 
Argos and of Clytemnestra had the Argei of wicker-work. 

We find a legend in our own land. St. Cuthbert floated down 
the Till and the Tweed, and up the Wear to Durham, in his stone 
coffin, where the legend to this day shows the cow conducting him, 
sculptured on the cathedral. So a cow is sculptured on the tower of 
Glastonbury, in the Isle of Avalon. 

We then meet it in Greece, at Argos, and its mound and sanctuary 
grove ; at Thebes, as the heifer ; at Rome, in Argeiphont, and the 
processions to the Argei ; and the Argei, or Scirpia, cast into Tiber- 
I imagine these stone cists, or sarcophagi, were perhaps intended for 
arguz, or arks, dedicated for preservation. 

Strabo locates a town, Ximyra, by Tortosa, and the Chimasra was 
one of the Pataici of the old Pelasgi, and is the name of one of the 
four vessels which competed in Book V. 

The Chimsera, composed of lions', and goats', and serpents' heads, 
meets elucidation in the woodcut from Maundrell. In the pyramidal 
pinnacle is Ari ; the tholus, or lunar, is JEgso ; the subterranean 



NOTES TO THE MSMS. 415 

rater was Aub, or, in ambiguous interpretation, the lion, the goat, 
and the serpent. 

These pinnacles also appear to be the wings ; Gaph, the Chaldaic 
ambiguous word by which these secret chambers and their deadly 
sacrifices were escaped. Daedalus escaped by wings from the Cretan 
cave. The Molossian royal victims 

H Ubi nati rege Molosso 
Irrita subjectis fugere iuceudia pennis.'' 

Met. xiii. 717. 

Again they .introduce Scylla, companion of Chimaera in the race. 

The woodcut from Mr. Fergusson I consider to exemplify Scylla. 
The white tholus, symbol of safety to mariners, the beneficent power 
of the Phoenicians, appears surrounded by dogs, and covering the 
sacrificial chambers of the Circaean and solar rites which meta- 
morphosed her. She apparently stands on the Allyattan mound of 
Halyaeetus her father. 

Herod is stated in Josephus (' Antiq.' xvi. 7) to have violated these 
tombs secretly and by night in search of treasures but found 
none ; and thence dated the curse which fell on him and his family. 
It is a repetition of the eternally- told tale of violating supposed 
tombs for treasure, as in the instances of the Pyramids, and the 
so-called tomb of Cyrus at Mourgaub ; and Josephus adds that 
Herod, in intended propitiation of his deed, erected a propitiatorv 
monument of white stone. Mr. Fergusson, in his ' History of 
Architecture,' from whence the woodcut is taken, states that if he 
had to decide upon the form of that monument he should select that 
of the woodcut. I should do the like from its being the pinnacle 
to similar chambers elsewhere. 

At the Cyclopian portal of Tartarus iEneas lustrates himself and 
dedicates the bough. " The branch to the nose," of Ezekiel ? 

The Cyclopian remains which Virgil had in his antiquarian eye, 
were the walls of Tiryns, built by Cyclops. The words, 

" Cyclopum educta cammis 
iNloeuia conspicio," 



416 



NOTES TO THE iENEIS. 



I imagine to mean walls, built or drawn out in galleries, 
ing was sketched by me in 1837 at Tiryns : — 



The follow- 




SECTION OF GALLERIED WALL OF TIRYNS. 

Again, Tiryns itself is held to be in form of a ship — the Scyphus 
of Tirynthius Heros, and offering another link to the Minyse, the 
Argo, and adjoining town of Argos. 

The words " atque adverso fomice portas" would receive their 
best illustration from the subterranean fane of Boeotian Orchomenus, 
but travellers avoid the lake of Copais and its malaria, and 1 have 
not seen any representation of the Treasury of Minyas there ; but 
the entrance to the Treasury of Agamemnon at Mycense is here 
given with a woodcut of the stone portal and the symbolic arch 
above, under which the bough was hung. 




AN ARG1VE FANE AT MYCENAE. 



NOTES TO THE ^ENEIS. 417 




VIEW FEOM ITS INTERIOR. 

Interior view of the same, with the stone covering the entrance, 
the dimensions of which are given as 17 feet broad by 27 feet deep 
and 4^- feet thick, making 2064 square feet, the stone covering the 
passage. The Cyclopian passage leads to a subterranean vaulted 
dome : very similar indeed — save in better workmanship — to those 
of New Grange, at Slane on the Boyne, and its fellow at Siane by 
Donaghadee. 

Pyramids and Juggernauth have square and cube apartments. I 
think this dome is connected with the Xyseian cave of Bacchus : 
for as this was constructed by the Argives, so its congener of the 
Boeotian Orchomenos was the scene where the Mineides were turned 
into Xycterides, or bats ; which name, conjoined with that of Xycty- 
mene, and Xyctelius — who was Bacchus — succeeded to these fanes 
suited to their nocturnal mysteries. 

Ovid alludes to tins when he makes Corona — who was the mound 
—exclaim (' Met.' ii. 1. 590),— 

'■ Xyctimene nostro successit honori." 

But these records of Mycena?, if we may trust Strabo, B. VIII. c. vi. 
s. 10, cannot be of the Atridan house, for Argos and the Argives 
razed My cense, " so that at present not even a trace is to be dis- 
covered of the city of the Mycenaeans." 

What then is this existing portal ? Is this as it appears to be — 

"The Phrygian lions joined in Ida's peak.'" — Mn. x. 1.57. 

2 E 



418 



NOTES TO THE JSNEIS. 



which was the symbol of the ship of iEneas, and found here on the 
territories of the victorious Arrives ? 




GATE OP MYCENAE. 

These are the world-wide famed monuments Virgil attributed 
to the Cyclops, not as drawn forth from furnaces of Lipari, but of the 
Cyclopes whom Prcetus used in fortifying Tiryns. — Strabo, viii. vi. 2. 

" There were seven Cyclops, and they were called Gasterocheiras 
(belly-handed), because they subsisted by their art." He adds, 
" perhaps the caverns about JS T auplia and the works there have their 
names from that people." 

Lastly, I must adduce our Cyclopian-built round tower of Kildare, 
and show over its symbolic entrance the " ad verso fornice," where 
the bough was suspended — a rare instance of an external symbol on 
a round tower. 




NOTES TO THE .ENEIS. 419 

Following jEneas and his guide, we emerge from Tartarus by the 
Gates of Sleep. The way, as expressed before, was irremeable : nor 
need we ask about Hercules and Theseus, how they returned, or 
what the Sibyl meant by " hoc opus hie labor est." These gates are 
seen in MaundreH's woodcut, and such shafts often are alluded to by 
Mr. Dennis in ' Etruscan Chambers and Tombs.' In the ■ Journal of 
the Asiatic Society,' xiii. 149, on the ancient city of Balabhipura, is 
a very similar pillar, and opening in the ground near to it, and it is 
" under the special charge of the Jinn." 

Penelope alludes to these Gates of Sleep in the Odyssey : — 

" Hard is the task, and rare, the Queen replies, 
To find in dreams impending destinies. 
Two portals firm the various phantoms keep 
Immured within the silent bower of sleep ; 
Of ivory one, and a fantastic train 
Of winged lies flit thence to cheat the brain ; 
Of lucid horn the other — where await 
Visions of truth and fraught with future fate. 
Alas ! I fear the vision of the night 
Came through the first to my deluded sight.'' 

xix. 658. 



" The greater gates are sardonix mingled with horn, so that none 
may enter with poison : the lesser gates are of ebony.'' — ' Letter of 
Prester John,' see Layard, i. 252. 

Note to Book VII. 

The name of Gaeta derives from the pagan Lamian fane which 
existed in that well-known mountain promontory, and which was a 
spot seized on by them for its strength and beauty, and polluted by 
their horrible rites. Strabo, v., c. iii., says that it was denominated 
from a cave, though he did not know its precise etymology. 

Horace says one of the principal places where the Lamians settled 
was at Formia. They were also turricolaB : towers and caverns — 
carrying out the system of subterrenes as set forth before in the note 
to Book VI. 

Bryant (ii. 275) deduces the fane itself from the Lacedemonians, 

2 e 2 



420 NOTES TO THE .ENEIS. 

who used to whip their children round the altar of Diana Orthia, 
and that this rite was called Caiatio, and quotes, " Apud antiquos 
Caiatio dicehatur puerilis cgedes." 

The flagellation and drawing blood was really a humane institu- 
tion, and was accepted in lieu of the sacrifice proper of the child. It 
was checked also by the priestess having to raise up a heavy statue, 
and when it sunk from her exhaustion the flagellation ceased. 

Gaeta has been a fatal spot : 'twas there 

" A Eoman's bastard hand 
Murdered sweet Tully," 

and the kingdom of Naples was lost at Gaeta by the last King of 
Naples in 1866. 

Book VIII. 1. 475. 
Tegecean sword. 

The term Tegeasan points to the Sanctuary of Mount Ma3nalus. 
Hercules, Anna Perenna, and iEneas, all couched in a Tegesean dome 
on Latin shores. 

Arcadia contained an innumerable number of pagan fanes. Its 
position in the centre of the Morea was probably the cause of such 
a congregation. Lycaon, Pheneus, the Harpies, Syrynx or Syrynga, 
the Zerynthus probably of Samothrace, a cavern sacred to the 
infernal goddesses, Calistho, Areas, Evander, Carmenta and Pallas, 
and Atalanta, who retrograded to the Arimi after her wedlock with 
Hippomenes ; but as lions they were bitted, and the fires of the 
Arimi were without sacrifice of blood on Mount Ida. 

Jupiter and Pan succeeded in mythology to this pagan host ; and 
Pan took possession of the glades of Mount Msenalus and Tegea, its 
especial shrine. Mount Msenalus is the sole spot of earth which 
remains constellised on our celestial spheres. It was, like Troy and 
Tintagel, a Panomphean sanctuary. The remains of the Temple of 
Pan there are a huge square building surmounted by four corner 
domes. These Thols — the Latin tbolus — are the sectical terms in 
question when the Roman poets refer to Tegesean roofs. It was 
the symbol of sanctuary, and may be found in the Romulean hut on 
the Capitol, which word is compounded of cepb, head, and tol, which 



NOTES TO THE .ENEIS. 421 

was the Tehl or fire-mound of the fire-worshippers, and the Thol 
or dome which succeeded it for the cryptish fire of Vesta and the 
sanctuary afforded by it. Ovid plaj's much more with the term 
than does Virgil. The word Thalamus in one of its significations 
belongs to it ; as when Attis, 

" et credens thalami procumbere tectum 
Effugit et cursu Dindyma summa petit." — Fasti, iv. 233. 

Evander's attire would transmute into his symbolic fanes. The 
Tyrrhene sandals are the sandalons of Jason, the two mounds of the 
Sun ; his Tegea2an sword is the white cippus of sanctuary ; and his 
hide of panther is the spotted black and white of the mingled 
worship : two cohen, dogs or priests, attend him with Pallas, the 
eponym of the fire-worshipping races. These are the things really 
pointed at, and not the garbs of the Senior and his son, who are so 
soon to pass away for the unsandaled ^Eneas and cryptish fire and 
fountain worship. 

Mount Masnalus is truly the Mountain of the Moon — Men, Mene. 
The temple of Mugeyer, of which a drawing is given in Loftus' 
' Chaldcea,' dedicated to Sin or the Moon, and called Mesene by the 
Greeks, and Camarina, from Kamar, the moon, by the Arabs, is 
very like in its square-framed building surmounted by domes to the 
remains of the temple of Pan on Mount Mtenalus. As lateo formed 
Latium and Latinus, who were to pass away ; so tego, tectus, may 
have been a rival term from the Tegeaean dome. 

Mezentius with his twelve tribes of Easena are ranged under — 
1. Aventinus ; 2. Coras and Catillus ; 3. Caeculus ; 4. Messapus. 
5. Clausus ; 6. Halesus ; 7. (Ebalus ; 8. Ufens ; 9. Umbra ; 
10. Virbius ; 11. Turnus ; 12. Camilla. But the Etruscan con- 
federacy was broken. Tarchon belongs to a northern confederacy. 
Massicus, Abas, Asylas, Astur, Cinyras, Cupavo, Ocnus, and Au- 
letes ; these sailed in the triremes of Father Benacus, and vindicated 
their Eastern origin — for " Tuscos Asia sibi vindicat," as Seneca 
says — by the Tigris river genius, on which river Eezen of Nimrod 
was built. How the Mantuans and Benacans got their fleet to the 
Portus Lunensis or the Portus Pisanus, the extremity of iEneas' 
journeying, is a poetic licence, of which there are plenty in the 
iEneis. The feasible journey would have been down the Adriatic 



422 NOTES TO THE jENEIS. 

and up the Tyrrhene seas ; but Virgil, honouring Mantua and her 
confederacy, overlooks the geography, unless indeed the Mantuans 
held the port of Luna on the Tyrrhene main. 

Virgil, an antiquary, delighted in recording Etruscan antiquities. 
He was the Walter Scott of his day ; we accordingly meet many 
allusions to words and things unknown. 

The Pilentum, called by Ovid the Carmentum, a litter in which 
the dames of Borne were carried to sacred games. 

Aurichalc, ordinarily mentioned as some unknown and valued 
metal. It is used on the breastplate of Turnus. Alternating with, 
gold, it ornamented the tibise in Horace : — 

" Tibia non ut nunc orichalco vincta." 

Electro also, Mn. viii. 401 and 624. They both alternate with gold 
in ornament. Tin was the valued secret of the Phoenician mariners, 
and the infusion of six parts in a hundred makes bronze. I cannot 
help thinking aurichalc was tin proper. Admirably adapted to this 
purpose, and considered superior to silver. There are the Tormenta, 
— wreathed ropes, which formed springs of great power, and, by means 
of a balk of wood, used as a lever to cast stones. There were the 
Propugnacula, joined to the main works by bridges, even like our 
own demi-lunes. When Helenus and Lycus fall with the propug- 
naculum, they are outside the town, upon the plain. There is the 
Carteia, the Teutonic crossbow ; the Aciides ; and many other allusions 
drawn from some Monkbarn's ' Collection of Etruscan Antiquities.' 

Book VIII. 1. 412. 

" castum ut servare cubile 
Conjugis, et possit parvos educere natos." 

This simile, so out of place in respect to Vulcan, is a bitter satire 
against the celestial goddess, and places the mortal woman im- 
measurably above her. Assuredly Virgilius never went forth by 
the gate Collina to pay vows to Venus Erycina. But Virgil had 
something in his mind's eye when he penned that simile. Octavia, 
the noble cynosure of his eyes, is the woman of his verse. Wife 
and mother of a Marcellus, wedded for State policy to Antony, and 
submitting to indignities " parvos educere natos " — his, not hers. 



NOTES TO THE .ENEIS. 423 

Cleopatra, or more probably Fulvia, is the goddess, prostituting her 
charms to set the world on fire, and the cause of the comparison so 
honourable to the woman and so derogatory to the goddess. 

Book X. 

" Gens illi triplex, populi sub gente quaterni, 
Ipsa caput populis." — x. 200. 

The remark made upon Mantua is applicable to all cities of the 
Ivasena established by Tarchon, which have been found to consist of 
three different elements — Etruscan, Sabine, and Pelasgic, — and 
appear to devolve on Eome itself in the three divisions of Eam- 
nenses, Titienses, and Luceres. 

In like manner M. Hue, at Lassa, in Thibet, found that primitive 
town divided into three classes, Thibetians, Pebouns, and Katchi, 
forming separate communities dwelling together. I have seen the 
like remark made upon our own London, that take haphazard any 
mercantile house between Charing Cross and the Tower, and you 
will find the capitalist to be a Scotsman, the managing partner an 
Englishman, and the porter an Irishman — which is but an exempli- 
fication of the grand dispensation of the tripartite world, and of Shem, 
Ham, and Japhet, or, in the classic writ, of Caeus, Iapetus, and 
Typhosus, their representatives. 

Caverns along this coast are met with throughout its length, par- 
ticularly at Cumse, at Gaeta, and through Etruria. Latinus hid in 
Oris, the Scriptural Ohr, or mound with concealed cavern. Scylla 
was conjoined with this shore, Circe, the Syrens, the Lamia?, and 
the Lestrygons, all followers of detestable solar rites of blood. Cacus 
was another instance. The towers connected with the caverns were 
just shown in note p. 409. 

Book XII. 1. 942. 

" et notis fulserunt cingula bullis 
Pallantis pueri." 

These bulla; were the ornaments worn by boys until seventeen 
years old, and then hung up to the household gods. iEneas recognised 
the well-known amulets of the bov Pallas. 



424 NOTES TO THE .ENEIS. 

It continued under the Roman kings as an institution, Bulla Aurea. 
Tarquinius Priscus conferred it on his son of twelve years old, for 
having killed an enemy in the field. 

The " aurea bullis cingula " of Ehamnes, in Book IX. 1. 359, 
coupled with phalerse, were ornaments of horses. Camels in the East 
are still decorated with their kamarehs, or moons. 

So Gideon "slew Zebah and Zalmunna, and took away the orna- 
ments that were on their camels' necks," Judges viii. 21, and the 
marginal reading gives " ornaments like the moon." 

The figures in Campanari's garden, Dennis, 1. 442, have these 
lunar ornaments, probably with a sectical difference to the torque. 

" Sunt ornamenta mulierum in similitudinem lunse bullae depen- 
dentes." — Isidore, L. Orig. c. 31. 

It is worthy of note that Euryalus, a boy himself, was captivated 
by the equestrian bullse of King Rhamnes. 

I believe the gipsies still wear bullse, but to what age I know not. 



Errata. 

The following lines have been unaccountably omitted by 
me in Book I. : — 

435a. That none might interrupt them by the way 
b. With question, molestation, or delay. 

454a. "0 fortunate are ye," JSneas said, 

b. " Whose walls arise on strong foundations laid." 

c. Then entered in, wrapped in celestial screen, 

d. And mingled with its multitudes unseen. 

THE END. 



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AND CHARING CROSS- 



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